More walking is always better: ‘You walk out your front door and you’re already moving’ | Healthy
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columnWalking every day is good for your physical and mental health. These benefits do not only occur when you reach a certain number of steps per day, as behavioral psychologist Chantal van der Leest also knows, but she still does everything she can to always achieve her daily goal of 10,000 steps.
It often happens that I have to run up and down the stairs a few times just before going to sleep. Or quickly slip outside for a walk. The reason? I still want to achieve my goal of 10,000 steps per day. I also know people who wave their arms wildly to trick their pedometer, but I don’t do that. Because no, my goal is not to make my pedometer happy, but to live a healthy life.
Now it turns out that 10,000 steps is not a sacred goal in itself, American researchers discovered. They compared the data of 220,000 people from all over the world. Just under 4,000 steps – or 2.6 kilometers – per day appears to reduce the risk of premature death from cardiovascular disease. But they also discovered that the more you walk, the greater the health benefits. They have not yet discovered an upper limit. Also because they had too few people in their data who took more than 20,000 steps every day. So to be continued.
Stick walks together
The advantage is: walking is a cheap form of working on your health and you do not need any means of transport. You walk out your front door and you’re already moving. No time is also a bad excuse. Of course, if you suddenly have to walk 10,000 steps in a row, it will take quite a bit of time. The trick is to incorporate all kinds of walks into your daily routine. Do you really have to drive to the gym, daycare or supermarket, or can you walk?
We are also fortunate that we live in the Netherlands. Unlike America, for example, you can walk relatively safely here almost everywhere and there are many sidewalks in built-up areas. To my luck, I discovered that my community is actively planning for walking. City authorities also have to: cities are slowly filling up and every meter must be weighed. Are we going to build, create greenery or make room for mobility?
Society also becomes fairer if you invest in walking, shops and schools nearby and good sidewalks
The space for the car is expensive. A car costs a municipality an average of 140 square meters of road space and 20 meters of parking space. A pedestrian only takes up 2 square meters of sidewalk and takes up half a meter when standing still. We usually store people neatly in their homes at the end of the day and do not leave them on the street like a car. Moreover, society also becomes fairer if you invest in walking, shops and schools nearby and good sidewalks. Almost everyone benefits from this: rich or poor, young or old, able-bodied or not so strong anymore.
Actually, I find walking very enjoyable. I hear woodpeckers drumming in a park, greet neighbors who are also walking and see how people live and what grows in their front garden. How lucky that something that is so relaxing and fun is also healthy.
Want to know more about psychology and work? Read Chantal’s books Why perfectionists are rarely happy, 13 tips against perfectionism (2021) and Our fallible thinking at work (2018).
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