BY ANGELA HAUPT
THE BRIEF HEALTH
LOGGING MORE STEPS COMES WITH dozens of benefits. “Walking is probably the most basic, most fundamental thing that nearly everybody has the ability to do,” says Dr. Tamanna Singh, co-director of the Sports Cardiology Center at Cleveland Clinic. It lowers your risk for major diseases and helps control weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar. Walking even curbs the urge to indulge: one study found that a 15-minute strollm reduced chocolate cravings. Plus, it’s gentle on the joints, and there’s no learning curve to do it properly or safely. The best part? You can get these benefits with a few tweaks to your daily life, says Cedric X. Bryant, president and chief science officer of the American Council on Exercise. For people who aren’t very active, “it takes a very small dose”—a few thousand daily steps—“to elicit a pretty nice response.” Here are five fun ways to seamlessly add more steps to your day.
1. Stop texting people who are nearby
What do you do when you want to talk to someone upstairs or down the hall? “We probably yell, and we probably text,” says Bryant. “Instead, get up, walk, and communicate with them face-to-face.” The same is true when you’re at the office: replace every text, email, call, or Slack to the nearby target of your attention with an in-person visit. Looking for every opportunity to move is a great way to collect more steps.
2. Get (or borrow) a dog
Research has found that dog owners are four times as likely as people without dogs to meet federal exercise recommendations—and they tend to take almost 3,000 more steps per day. If you don’t have a dog, Singh suggests volunteering to walk dogs at an animal shelter. “You’re helping yourself as much as you’re helping a little animal,” she says, “and they deserve to walk as much as we do.”
3. Create some competition
A social way to keep yourself accountable is to recruit friends, family members, or colleagues for a
