This post was last updated on July 13th, 2022 at 09:47 am
Unless you’re working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (and few traders do anymore), finance jobs are mostly behind desks. Financial transactions flow through computers, and many involve no human interaction whatsoever. Wall Street isn’t unique with its sedentary setup, of course. Most white-collar professions nowadays involve a lot of sitting. The good news is you don’t have to be confined to a chair all day. It’s relatively easy to get more steps in your day. You just have to be intentional.
There are many ways to be intentional about moving more and sitting less. One strategy is to use a fitness tracker to inform you whether you’re being active enough each day. These gadgets can be either a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. They’re great when hitting your step goal comes easily, but they can become, if you consistently fall short, a nagging reminder of being stuck in a sedentary rut.
Hope for the step deprived
The Wall Street Journal is sensitive to the sedentary challenges facing its mostly white-collar readership. As a subscriber, I frequently encounter Journal stories advising readers on how to be more physically active. A June 12 story offered some hope for the step deprived, noting you can achieve significant health benefits from taking about 7,500 steps a day instead of the oft-cited 10,000 threshold. The story reported a recent study found people who walked an average 4,400 steps a day experienced a 41% reduction in mortality compared to walking only 2,700 steps a day. That rate fell by 65% when walking about 7,500 steps a day. It fell further at 10,000 steps but less dramatically.
Reaching a certain number of steps per day shouldn’t be your goal, I would argue. If you hardwire more steps into your daily routine, you won’t have to fret about reaching your step goal. It will come automatically. Focus on the process, and you will get results. Focus on some arbitrary number, and you’re likely to feel frustrated.
I’ve touted in previous posts the benefits of biking to work, the grocery store, the library, the coffee shop and other places, and I can’t overemphasize the point. You can accumulate the equivalent of thousands of steps while simply getting to where you need to go. There are online calculators to convert your biking into steps, and Gearmashers.com offers conversion guidelines. Biking at a moderate pace, for example, is equal to roughly 150 steps per minute.
Step accumulation strategies
But if biking isn’t an option, there are many other ways to hardwire steps into your day, such as:
01 Drink a lot during the day. I’m talking about water or non-caffeinated tea. One benefit is you’ll stay hydrated, unlike the nearly 75% of people considered “chronically dehydrated.” The other benefit is you’ll have to use the bathroom more often, meaning you’ll be forced to get up from your desk and—here’s the key—walk to the bathroom. If you work in an office setting, consider using the facilities on another floor and taking the stairs to get even more steps.
02 Don’t eat at your desk. Leave your work desk during lunch and try to find someplace outside the office to eat. Bring a bagged lunch to a park and then take the long route back to the office after finishing lunch. A stroll resets the mind, creating a smooth transition into afternoon tasks.
03 Embrace the pace. Do you have a long phone call? Don’t sit! If you’re not tethered to your phone by a cord, pace around the room while you talk. Stroll the hallway or climb some stairs (to the extent you can carry on your conversation without losing your breath). And, ignore any funny looks you might get.
04 Shop in a disorganized fashion. Many people understandably want to get out of the grocery store as quickly as possible, especially amid a coronavirus pandemic, but stores are fertile ground for steps. You’ll get even more steps by tackling your shopping list in a random order. For example, get your carrots and then your milk but return to the produce section for broccoli. Grab the chicken en route to the cottage cheese and then backtrack to the seafood counter for salmon. This is one of the few times disorganization works in your favor.
05 Schedule movement-heavy chores. Whether you’re clearing out gutters, raking leaves, gardening, edging your sidewalk or mowing, yardwork can feed your step count and, as a frugalmatic bonus, improve your home’s appearance. If you’re stuck inside because of weather, mopping, sweeping and vacuuming are all step goldmines.
When taken in combination, these tasks will put you closer to 10,000 steps—and you haven’t even stepped on a treadmill yet. Also, remember not to put too much emphasis on a particular number. As the Journal noted in its story, reaching 10,000 steps isn’t a golden ticket to perfect health. You can achieve health benefits with fewer steps.
Finally, don’t worry about overhauling your routine all at once. Lifestyle changes are a marathon, not a race. So long as you’re becoming aware of your sedentary tenancies and steadily addressing them, you’ll make progress.