Walking - Lotte Vesterli

Fit Some Walking Into Your Day

Lotte Vesterli on May 24, 2022

You don’t have to run. But you do have to exercise a little every week. You will find lots of exercise advice on the internet, but the official recommendations are really simple: 150 minutes of moderate exercise like walking or cycling or 75 minutes of running or similar.

You can easily fit 150 minutes of walking into your week in 15-minute intervals. Get off the bus or train a little before your destination and walk for 15 minutes. If you do that on the way to work and on the way home, that gives you 30 minutes each workday. If you are in the office five days a week, that adds up to 150 minutes

If you are working from home, walk to work anyway. That means taking a 15-minute walk around the block when you start your workday, and another 15-minute walk when you end it. That has the added benefit of setting boundaries around your work time. The first walk can put you into focused “work mode”, and the second walk can allow your mind to change from work to relaxation.

Cut Your Risk of Dying Prematurely in Half

Lotte Vesterli on April 7, 2022

You don’t need 10,000 steps a day. But 7,000 steps a day cuts your risk of dying prematurely in half. A big meta-study published in The Lancet gathers data from 15 large studies. They conclude that mortality – your risk of dying in any given month – at 7,000 steps is only half that at 3,000 steps. Just getting to 5,000 steps still gives you a 30% improvement.

If you believe you are already taking 5,000 or 7,000 steps per day, I have bad news for you: You don’t. Most people significantly overestimate their activity level, and I did as well. There is only one way to know and increase your number of steps: Count them. Get an app for your phone, or use a smartwatch or fitness tracker. Some people find that the carefully designed “nudging” in an Apple Watch makes them much more likely to reach their goals. But you can get a good-enough fitness tracker for less than $50.

Set a goal of 7,000 steps and find a way to track your progress. You will find that it also improves your mood and your energy.

Go Wandering

Lotte Vesterli on November 6, 2020

When you go out for a walk this weekend, wear a backpack with an extra sweater and a bottle of water. And put your phone in airplane mode and put it at the bottom of the backpack. Then go somewhere new – somewhere where you haven’t walked before (you might need to drive a short while to get to a new starting point). Walk aimlessly and just notice the things around you: The color of the leaves, birds in the sky, the sound of the wind.

If you’ve done your aimless wandering right, and are not equipped with an exceptional sense of place and direction, you’ll eventually be lost. At that time, you are allowed to dig your phone out of your backpack and let it help guide you back.

In addition to being a fun way to get exercise, this also helps reset your relation with your phone. It reminds you that you should not let your phone feed you stress and anxiety, but appreciate it as a useful helper that you command.