How far are 10,000
steps? If you have an average stride (approximately 2.5 feet, it takes a
little over 2,000 steps to walk one milk. Many sedentary people only average
about 2,000 to 3,000 steps a day. Adding steps has many health benefits:
☻Weight
control
☻Improved
blood pressure and cholesterol levels
☻Decrease
in risk of cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis and heart disease
Wearing a pedometer is
an easy way to track your steps each day. Start by wearing the pedometer
every day for one week. Put it on when you get up in the morning and wear it
until it is time for bed at night. Record your daily steps and at the end of
the week take an average of your daily steps.
A good goal is to
increase your average daily steps each week by 500 per day until you reach the
10,000 step goal.
Here are a few easy ways
to increase your daily steps:
- Take a walk with your spouse, child or friend
- Walk the dog
- Use the stairs instead of the elevator
- Park further from the store or walk to the store
- Get up to change the channel and turn the television
off
- Window shop
- Plan a date to mall walk
- Plan a walking meeting
- Walk to a friend’s home
- Get outside to walk around the garden or do some
weeding
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