AIBU to think 20 min walking a day is not 'very active'

[UndertheCedartree]

I am reading a book called 'How not to die' by Michael Gregner. In it he talks about the 'Simple 7 steps' the American Heart Association says help cut your risk of Heart disease.

One is being 'very active'. This is defined as 22 minutes walking per day. I was pretty surprised by that. I walk more than that myself daily but don't consider myself very active, atall. I'm trying to get much healthier. Is that all I really need to aim for? Is there something I'm missing?

Most stepcounters vastly overestimate the number of steps though. I'm very skeptical of people who can rack up several miles by 1030am, without even leaving the house. Unless they genuinely live in a mansion.

Yeah the step count claims are very weird sometimes. I remember someone saying their lowest ever day was something like 4k steps when they were in bed all day with flu. Then would not accept that a few trips to the loo could not possibly add up to that.

I go to the gym 4-5 times a week and will make sure within that I run 15 miles a week then go on a walk on my days off the gym. I still wouldn't class myself as very active because I WFH and so only do 2,500 steps before I get to the gym.

Hearing someone say a 20 min walk a day is active is just ridiculous!

I'm a tall person. I never do as many steps as a short person. I did 21000 today though. That was a 10k run and family walk. Which means my kids probably did shit loads of steps.

@TheMoth

I'm a tall person. I never do as many steps as a short person. I did 21000 today though. That was a 10k run and family walk. Which means my kids probably did shit loads of steps.

Kids do something more akin to Dog Miles.

So do DPs, if mine is anything to go by.

I also think the majority of people do not wall briskly for 20 minutes per day.

My school run, I would estimate 80 percent of parents drive to and from the school. And even then it's 6 years of a child being in education for which they are dropped off at school, say 2 children aversge 3 years apart that wiuld be 9 years of walking too and from school, out of ab adult life say of 40 years that would still leave 30 years not walking to school. For at least half of those they walk at a snails pace. Prior to school years again judging by our nursery from, most parents drove.

Dog walkers, most I see walk to the park, unleash the dog and stand talking while at most using one of those devices to launch a ball to exercise the dog.

I live in a very utban setting and yet barely see my neighbours walk beyond the tube station. I think the UK thinks it does more walking than it does, ambling yep let's pf that but walking at a pace nope not as many as people think.

I am American and I use the step tracker on my Iphone. I do a minimum of 5,000 steps a day (or else what, I don't know) it's just that over the past whatever years, if I ever walk less than that, then I feel as if I have to make it up so that I have an overall minimum of 5000 steps a day over the course of a month and a year of 5,000 steps. It definitely takes more than an hour a day, unless I go to the gym. So 20 minutes doesn't seem like much. But I can imagine how people wouldn't get around to it unless they made a conscious effort to do it.

That's not much imo. I run just over 2 miles in the morning and have breakfast. Then walk 6 miles with ds in his pram. In total I think that takes me about 2.5 hours

I think the thing is you actually don't need a large amount of activity to make a health difference. That's a positive message for many who feel they can't possibly get fit. Just getting out for a walk daily could improve many peoples health.

I think the biggest thing to improve health/live longer is to prioritise sleep. No screens before bed, dim lights, no food 3 hours before bed.

Listen to recent podcast on sleep from Dr Chatterjee. V interesting

Maybe its this kind of thing,

www.verywellhealth.com/step-count-matters-one-study-finds-5202333#:~:text=Key%20Takeaways,death%20among%20middle%2Daged%20adults

I’m tubby as hell but I wouldn’t consider 7000 steps an active day yet it seems makes a difference. So 20 minutes would get me about 2000 steps (slow coach) I cover about 6000-7000 steps with general pottering around so if you are even less active than me 2000 steps, at just a stroll could actually make a difference to your health.

Having read various studies about basic health gains through walking, 7000 is the minimum required for health benefits, with ever increasing health gains up to 14000 steps daily. However above 14000 there are fewer health gains

@GregBrawlsInDogJail

That's just not completely sedentary by my benchmark, yeah. But a surprising number of people are in fact totally sedentary, so it's better than that.

WFH has got me in this place where I rarely leave the house now. I don't walk and don't exercise. I keep telling myself I'll do something about it and then another week passes by.

@Saltyquiche

Having read various studies about basic health gains through walking, 7000 is the minimum required for health benefits, with ever increasing health gains up to 14000 steps daily. However above 14000 there are fewer health gains

So between 3-7 miles a day? I'm curious how there can possibly be no health benefit below 3 miles - do you have the studies?

I’ve gone from walking 30 mins a day to nothing for health reasons but I’ve been told by cardio that ihave to start by doing 10 minutes gentle walking a day.

No 22 minutes is not a lot but to someone who is suffering from health probs or who is completely sedentary it’s something to work towards

Tbf, with the way modern life is, I'm not surprised.

Most days I only really 'walk' around my house. I commute to work by car which is parked outside my house and get dropped off by the entrance to the building, then back again. Even if I get the bus, it's a 5 min walk to the bus stop.
I don't go for a walk on my lunch break because for about half the year (if not, more) it's either freezing, raining or really windy.

I do go the gym though three times a week.

@Marchitectmummy

I also think the majority of people do not wall briskly for 20 minutes per day.

My school run, I would estimate 80 percent of parents drive to and from the school. And even then it's 6 years of a child being in education for which they are dropped off at school, say 2 children aversge 3 years apart that wiuld be 9 years of walking too and from school, out of ab adult life say of 40 years that would still leave 30 years not walking to school. For at least half of those they walk at a snails pace. Prior to school years again judging by our nursery from, most parents drove.

Dog walkers, most I see walk to the park, unleash the dog and stand talking while at most using one of those devices to launch a ball to exercise the dog.

I live in a very utban setting and yet barely see my neighbours walk beyond the tube station. I think the UK thinks it does more walking than it does, ambling yep let's pf that but walking at a pace nope not as many as people think.

This is where the Active 10 app is good as it tells you how much brisk walking you do. I only brisk walk on the way back from dropping my DD off or on the way to pick her up as when she is with me she faffs around and walks slowly! So I do 20 min brisk walking 6 days a week (as she does gymnastics at school on a Saturday) plus I pick her up 3 days a week.But she is Y5 so not sure what I'll do when she goes to school alone - good point!!

@Forgothowmuchlhatehomeschoolin

Hmm maybe the fact he is American is the key point here....l was in the USA years ago and asked how far a particular landmark was from the hotel. They said oh it is a long way you need a cab. Started walking and was there in 15 mins! Not sure if the average American would walk that. Disclaimer l love America and its people so no offence intended at all! And even a short walk can give me a nice little boost so think it is good for mental health too.

Dunno, I've met many Brits who are similar.

MIL - you can't walk to THAT hotel after the party (it was 30m walk after midnight, walking together, ILs got a taxi to their house a 10m walk away)
Colleague given a lift to my house - 5m walk, and to work - 20m walk
Friend's husband didn't want his three year old to walk a one mile round trip on a pleasant day.

Very frustrating because I find short trips make me travel sick, so hate it when I'm forced into them.

The organisation the OP refers to is in the United States. Where 22 minutes walking is probably unheard of for many people, never mind the lazy able-bodied people there are in the UK.

The average American adult walks 4K steps a day so that’s probably why. Such a vast country I suppose they don’t have the opportunity to walk in the same way we do. I walk on average 16k steps a day and I’d consider that ‘very active, some days 22k.

I don’t drive so I walk a few miles each day out of necessity because we live at least a 20-40 minute walk from everything. It doesn’t bother me as I’m used to it and I’d never be able to get anywhere if I didn’t walk. I also walk pretty fast as I’m bored of how long it takes just to get to the shop, etc,. That said, I actually consider myself a bit unfit as, although I’m a healthy weight, I don’t exactly do any strenuous activity to get my heart going.

20 minutes of walking a day is laughable to be considered ‘active’. It just shows how sedentary we’ve all become.

Disclaimer: I’m no saint, I would probably drive everywhere and be sedentary if I could

I walk so fast my Garmin automatically detects it as an "activity" so I end up with all these daft little walks to the corner shop or a walk from a car part to the store/cinema/sports centre.

I should probably work out how to turn that function off as it looks pretty wanky when it automatically uploads to my strava.

@Dsisproblem

I think the thing is you actually don't need a large amount of activity to make a health difference. That's a positive message for many who feel they can't possibly get fit. Just getting out for a walk daily could improve many peoples health.

I think the biggest thing to improve health/live longer is to prioritise sleep. No screens before bed, dim lights, no food 3 hours before bed.

Listen to recent podcast on sleep from Dr Chatterjee. V interesting

I agree, that even a small amount of exercise can really improve a person's health. I am not for a minute criticising the idea that doing a small manageable amount of exercise is a good goal.

And yes sleep is so interesting. It has such a big effect in so many areas! I'm reading a book on it at the moment. I'll look out the podcast.

Nearly every job I've ever had has involved about a half-hour walk each way. My current job is about a 50 minute walk each way. I don't really think of that as exercise because it's something I need to do to get from A to B (I haven't got a car). But I miss it on days when I'm not working - I get fidgety and will usually get out for a walk of some sort during the day, unless I go for a run instead. I'm not super-fit (I can run, but not fast) and am visibly somewhat overweight - I should imagine I'd be pretty unfit by now if I didn't walk at all.

I can well believe people in America think 20 minutes is a long walk, as it sounds like it's just not the cultural norm there (except maybe in New York City and a few other more "alternative" towns?) I have very occasionally met someone in the UK who had no idea about walking. When my DS was a baby, I used to walk to a local coffee morning once a week with him in a pushchair - it took about 10 minutes. Another woman who lived in the same road as me went to the same thing and usually drove. One week her car was in for repairs and she walked - and arrived embarrassingly early because she'd allowed 45 minutes for the short walk!

Americans walk a lot less than we do, I think it's 60 minutes a day exercise is considered very active here.

I hate walking with a passion, I really do. I don't find it enjoyable.

20 mins would be torture to me.