"You should have no fewer than 10,000 steps a day"
- Dr. Robert Butler, Founding Director of the National Institute on Aging, in an interview for the New York Times Magazine
10,000 steps a day is roughly equal to 5 miles. A day. There are many trends in achieving a healthy lifestyle, but the most ancient and obvious method is to put one foot in front of the other.
It's so simple, really. Man evolved to stand upright and walk on two legs, and somehow with all of our knowledge and inventiveness, we have devolved from this ability and choose to sit instead.
We travel thousands of miles every year on airplanes, in cars, on trains, but using our own power to move our bodies from point A to point B seems foreign. And also distant to us is the enjoyment of the journey, not simply the destination.
There is something wonderful that happens to your mind when you go for a walk. It gets to focus on ideas, one at a time, without life's constant distractions. A quiet, cerebral journey is just as important as a physical one. How wonderful that we can experience both simultaneously.
One step, then another, then another. Footprints on the earth. 10,000 steps. Go.
