10,000 steps. Ever wonder why this statement is known to almost everybody – fitness gurus or the fitness opposed?
Step count is a popular way to motivate people to participate in aerobic exercise. It’s easily recorded using the iPhone ‘Health’ application, Google Fit for Android users, Fitbits, and pedometers, to name a few. And, step count offers more benefits than just motivation to exercise!
Regular aerobic exercise, using step count, has numerous physical and mental benefits:
- Increased overall fitness
- Reduced risk of chronic disease
- Delayed mortality rates
- Maintenance of bone mass
- Reduced anxiety and/or depression
- Reduces risk of cognitive decline, even dementia
- Great source of motivation!
Use the following current guidelines to help the recommend steps and aerobic exercise guidelines:
- Aim for 10,000 steps. If you are starting out, aim to increase your daily step count by 2000 steps per day, until you reach at least 7,000 steps. Then, keep it up!
- The exercise chosen should be continuous, purposeful and rhythmic. Examples include walking, jogging, running, cycling, and swimming.
- Engage in moderate to vigorous intensity exercise on 3 to 5 days of the week. As long as you complete 150 to 300 minutes of aerobic exercise per week, you can modify each session as desired. For example, you may prefer single 30 to 60 minute sessions or several 10 minute bouts throughout the day.
- Follow your heart rate! This is a good indicator of exercise intensity for most healthy people.
- Light intensity exercise: 30% to 50 % of your resting heart rate. This is often the intensity exercise intensity used by deconditioned individuals.
- Moderate intensity exercise: 50% to 70% of your resting heart rate.
- Vigorous intensity exercise: 70% to 85% of your resting heart rate.
Please consult your Physiotherapist regarding safe exercise intensity and duration if you would like more information, or if you have existing heart or lung condition and/or medication usage (i.e. beta-blockers, inhalers).