Limited time to be active = limiting your time by NOT being active. Plus limit your quality of life

To start, some figures.

Reduction in mortality rate (Samitz et al) & (Warburton et al) report a reduction in mortality of 31% to 35% with those who participate in regular leisure time or daily life activity compared to inactive persons.

Those who are inactive increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, obesity, increased risk of colon, breast and possibly endometrial, lung, and pancreatic cancer.

Inactivity therefore, promotes two fold. Not only does it reduce life expectancy but you suffer very poor health too. The older you get the worse your latter years will be. Not a very enticing end. (The Society of Occupational Medicine report from a ONS Labour Force Survey 2023) Long term sickness is now the leading cause of inactivity for men under the age of 64. If you limit what you are doing you will also limit your ability to do anything - think about it.

What to do!

NHS guidelines suggest 150 minutes of moderate intensity per week. That is exercise or activity that increases your rate of breath that allows you to talk but not sing. Or 75 minutes of more intense exercise or activity with an increased heart rate that does not allow you to hold a conversation. This has been explained here in very simple terms. 

One such measure for exercise which the majority can do is walking. 

It is suggested that a reasonably active person will do on average 5000 steps per day. Breaking this down a little to make sense of this. 1000 steps equals approximately 0.8 kilometers/0.5 miles. Obviously leg length and stride will vary. 

Anyone with an app on their phone or a FIT watch will easily be able to keep a tally on steps. However the accuracy and the efficacy may well be questioned. Essentially these measures are movement, not necessarily true steps. The effect of single movements will not have such a great bearing in isolation. Meaning that a continued walk for twenty minutes maintaining an increased heart rate equating to one mile has far more health advantage than lots of little interspersed movement that barely increase the heart rate. Though at the end of the day two people may register the same amount of steps, they may have extremely varying health results with their compared equal movements. 

With steps being used as the ‘defined’ amount of exercise for a person throughout the day, one should use a specified period of walking that is outside of their usual activity to truly show effect. The point here is to separate general activity with effective exercise.

To reduce the possibility of cardiovascular disease, stroke, etc, as detailed above, it is clear that a minimum amount of activity is required. But for true benefit and the better likelihood of improved health these minimums should be in addition to our general activity. Whilst the NHS does not suggest minimum steps, they do suggest at least twenty minutes of moderate exercise daily. So a ten minute brisk walk in one direction, then a ten minute brisk walk back, done and that’s one mile and that is 2,000 steps.

Information gathered from the National Library of Medicine suggests that 3867 steps/day provide for a reduction in all-cause mortality and only 2337 steps for  reduction in Cardio Vascular mortality. These are minimums and I refer back to NHS guidelines and we see how these steps should be achieved in respect of heart rate not just total steps achieved.

Just as an aside for those looking at fat burning included with their general wellbeing and health, here is a way to calculate your activity.

Estimate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220, then aim for a heart rate between 60% and 70% of that maximum. Maintain this heart rate for approximately 20 to 40 minutes.

There are many numbers thrown around as to how many steps we should actually do. 10,000 steps are often a suggested guide-line. But where does the number 10,000 come from? The idea of walking 10,000 steps a day comes from a hugely successful marketing campaign launched ahead of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The number was chosen because the Japanese character for 10,000 resembles a person walking, and the idea caught on. 万 if you can see it in this.

Primarily, activity is the initial goal for health, an increased heart rate for a specified period should also be a major focus throughout one's week. It is very clear that any individual who remains active, on the whole, will lead a longer and healthier life.

Ultimately you have to do what is right for you and have a level of exercise that you feel matches your requirements. So if 10,000 steps is your personal benchmark, then great. More than 2337 per day will reduce your Cardio Vascular mortality risk. Every 1000 steps or half a mile thereafter will have a positive impact heavily on your health in general.

So keep walking and get yourself slightly out of breath.