What Happens to Your Body When You Walk 10,000 Steps Every Single Day

Reference article – What Happens to Your Body When You Walk 10,000 Steps Every Single Day

I subscribe to “Pocket” and it reposted this 2019 article about the positive impact of 10,000 steps a day. Since March 1st this year, I have been trying to walk 10000 steps on average every day. I had a rude awakening on Feb 8th when my BP shot up and my head swam. That day, I decided to get more serious about my exercise.

Since 2013, my fitness has been on a downward trend. Bangalore didn’t work for me and I allowed it to get to me…. the weather, the traffic and the fact that I couldn’t meet friends as often as I did in Gurgaon. My knees gave me trouble. I stopped cycling altogether from Feb 2016, as my shoulder froze/got stuck. The pain in both my arms were unbearable and I just stopped doing any exercise ! Sarva Anga Thrilled 🙂

I restarted walking in 2017, but sporadically. I did Yoga at home for some duration, then gave up on it. The kilos piled on. Age, Menopause driven mood swings, inherent inertia and constant travel as part of ShikshaDaan Yatra all took their toll. Feb 8th was a nasty reminder and a great motivator at the same time. In the next couple of days, it will be six months of walking 10000 steps on average everyday. Am just at the start of my fitness journey, yet again.

Some of the benefits I have seen –

1. Aches and pains have reduced
2. My periods pain has almost disappeared
3. Better quality sleep
4. Not a lot of weight loss, but my clothes fit better
5. Mood swings courtesy menopause have reduced
6. Most importantly – I have kept the BP medicines off.

One sad outcome – I have had to give up my PhD on excuses. I just couldn’t defend it anymore.

Now, I can walk inside the house and reach that target of 10000 steps ! This has definitely been one of the positive effects of the pandemic :).

Do read this long article, Walking is Making a Major Comeback. Here’s an interesting excerpt from that article –

“…It occurred to me, after talking to Mike, that perhaps walking had a branding problem. Billed for so long as a gentle, slow-speed form of exercise for older people, or for those looking to lose a little weight and be more active, it had lost its appeal to much of the younger, outdoorsier set, who dismissed walking and instead chose more efficient and exciting ways of burning calories and boosting endorphins. But maybe all this stemmed from a fundamental misunderstanding of why we walk at all.”

The other paragraph that resonated with me was the following –

“…As a society, we treat exercise as an antidote to our sedentary, screen-filled lives, in which we sit, scroll, stress. We dose it like medicine: apply exercise once daily. But what if walking was simply a way to spend more of our lives in motion—even if we have other active outlets, too? In the past few months, I’ve taken phone calls with faraway friends on walks, gone walking to break through writing blocks or to rehearse for difficult conversations. I wasn’t just exercising. My life was happening. “

I have stopped taking a call, sitting down ! I keep pacing while speaking to anyone. It does make you wonder, what stopped me from doing this, all these years ? But I don’t want to spend time on what could have been. I am committed to the 10,000 steps a day now and I just want to keep doing that.

I recommend 10000 steps a day :):). Go walk.