I Tried Walking 10K Steps for 30 Days. The Results Were Confusing

How much of a difference does walking 10,000 steps every day actually make? Well, I decided to find out by doing it for 30 days. The challenge was surprisingly hard to accomplish and the results were kind of confusing. I decided to try the challenge because of the very popular idea that you should walk at least 10,000 steps a day to maintain good health. I wanted to verify if it was just one of those things people said or if there was merit to it. Before this challenge started, my average steps per day were about 4,400—less than half the challenge amount, which is pretty low. The average adult has a stride length of about 2.1 to 2.5 feet, according to The Walking Site, which means 2,000 steps is about one mile, and ten thousand steps are about five miles. I somehow needed to double the normal amount of walking I did every day for 30 days, so my strategy was essentially to just start this challenge when I traveled in Japan. I was in Japan for 15 days, which made the first half of this challenge an absolute breeze. I didn't need to think about it or keep track of my steps because I walked well over 10,000 steps each day, with many days actually going over 20,000.

You might think: Well, of course, you're walking over 10,000 steps every day; you're traveling. And you'd be right about that. But my friend who lives in Japan and doesn't often take public transportation, showed me her step count every day for the previous month and it was pretty much consistently over 10,000 steps. So, in my opinion, there's just something about being in Japan; it makes you feel like you want to walk more. I then felt the opposite way once I returned home from Japan because I struggled to reach 10,000 steps each day. I actually failed to reach 10,000 steps for three of the days because I didn't feel very well. And overall, for the days at home I was barely able to reach 10,000 steps thanks to my treadmill, which I walked on for hours while I was doing some editing. Now to the confusing part: For the first 15 days in Japan, walking felt good, and I felt healthier in general. Moving my body every day just felt right. My body felt more stimulated during the challenge. My leg muscles and feet felt stronger because they were being used consistently. I also think it helps with mental health. There's something meditative about just taking a long walk outside. But oddly, my cardio fitness level, according to my Apple watch, was the lowest it's ever been during this time. I found it weird that it would be so low during a time I moved around so much on a daily basis. Once I got home, those levels stayed the same despite me continuing to walk 10,000 steps. Sometime after the challenge, I did some jump roping, and my cardio fitness level increased, which leads me to believe that more intense exercises are more important for increasing that number versus light activities like walking. Regardless, I did feel healthier and better when I walked compared to before and after the challenge, so I definitely think it was beneficial overall.

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But, unfortunately, I don't think this is one of the 30-day challenges that I can actually maintain on a daily basis. Perhaps I could try to walk at least 10,000 steps every other day, or just increase my monthly average to something around 7,000 or 8,000. Because of how I accomplished this challenge, I'm focused on the differences between the first 15 days and the last 15 days. I really think the biggest difference was the feeling I got while walking around; some environments just naturally make you feel like you want to go walking whilst others are far less inspiring. Knowing that, and how much it seems to influence the amount of steps taken per day, I'd advise moving to a different place with a better environment, or driving to an environment more suited for walking. However, I know that the first is not very practical, and the second can be a hassle if you're someone like me who doesn't like driving often. Another option, though, is to try to adjust your environment to support your steps goal, like how I use a treadmill while editing, so you can turn walking into a habit that you do all the time. But to be honest, walking on the treadmill, in my experience, feels a lot worse than walking outside, which feels significantly better, so there are pros and cons for that too. So, if you're trying to walk 10,000 steps every day, it's unfortunate but I do feel like your natural environment and whatever your job is can make or break your success with this. I've tried lots of other 30 day challenges, such as quiet meals, drinking a certain amount of water every day, getting out of bed instantly, and doing 100 push-ups a day. But your success for those things is far less influenced by external factors. They're mostly things you can control. This walking challenge was one of the more difficult ones. I highlight these difficulties primarily to bring attention to them so don't end up as excuses for people not to walk 10,000 steps a day if they try the challenge and want to turn it into a habit. I often hear people talk about walking 10,000 steps a day, and you really don't know how difficult that is until you try to do it consistently every day. It was very, very difficult to do at home. Because I exercise on a regular basis, once I got back home and did the 10,000 steps per day, I didn't feel a huge difference from before I was walking that much. And that's why, for me, I won't go out of my way to maintain this habit, though I will try to walk more often on my treadmill or outside. Overall, I feel like this was a good challenge to do. It was fun. Scott Luu runs a YouTube channel and his podcast, Dreamlet. All views expressed are the author's own. Do you have a unique experience or personal story to share? Email the My Turn team at myturn@newsweek.com.

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