Boost Your Daily Step Count with These Work from Home Tips
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As creatives and content creators, especially in the post-covid era where remote jobs skyrocketed, many of us embraced the work-from-home lifestyle spending countless hours in front of our screens creating content, honing our skills, and connecting with our communities. This lifestyle creates immense flexibility and creativity but with it, a host of health issues if we do not take care of our physical health and stay seated for extended periods.
Increasing your daily step count can be a simple and effective way to counteract the sedentary nature of our work without breaking out a sweat on a treadmill (That comes later!) Let’s start one step at a time.
In this post, I will share with you some super fun and simple ways to seamlessly integrate more movement into your day without disrupting your creative flow or schedule. Whether you are creating your next masterpiece, grinding for the next level, or streaming to your audience, these tips will help you keep moving and stay healthy!
The benefits of walking
Sedentary lifestyles are one of the key drivers of the current state of chronic disease. Spending years of your life fighting these conditions such as heart disease or diabetes is a huge obstacle to living a long, happy life.
Physical health
Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (aka, NEAT) is the energy used for everything you do that is not sleeping, eating, or dedicated exercise. it ranges from doing chores, standing while working, fidgeting, playing with your pets, or walking to a cafe. pretty neat huh? This helps with the following:
- Weight management. walking helps you burn more calories throughout the day allowing you to maintain a healthy weight and supporting weight loss.
- Improve health. Walking enhances circulation and lowers your blood pressure.
- Strengthen muscles and joints: Moving regularly helps you maintain muscle and joint flexibility, reducing the risk of injuries.
- Prevents muscular atrophy: Moving constantly helps you prevent your muscles from growing weak from long periods of inactivity
- Enhance daily functioning: Adding more steps and overall movement into your day can improve body function, making everyday tasks easier and more enjoyable to do.
Studies show people who average a minimum of 4,000 steps a day have a lower risk of overall mortality than ones who walk even less. The more you move, the lower the risk. Once you reach 8,000 steps or above, the risk declines significantly. 8,000+ steps is the goal!
Think about it this way. The less time we spend being sick, the more art we can make, the more games we can play, and the more anime and TV shows we can binge! win-win.
Mental health
Walking is the ultimate mood-boosting drug! Moving your body increases blood flow to your brain and the rest of your body. It positively influences your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis – your body’s stress response system. When you exercise by walking, you’re calming your nerves, which helps reduce stress levels. It’s like giving your mind a refreshing reset!
Let me tell you about my other favorite wonderful effects of walking
- Enhances creativity: walking, extra points for walking in natural environments, can stimulate creative thinking and problem-solving. If we take a break from our phones, computers, notifications, and the quick dopamine fix and we walk around nature, ideas come flowing.
- Encourages mindfulness and meditation: If the idea of traditional meditation sounds daunting to you, try walking meditation! You can promote inner peace and calm by focusing on your steps, your breath, or the environment around you, this can help you anchor yourself in the present moment.
- Improves concentration: Incorporating short walking breaks throughout your day can help you prevent burnout and maintain high levels of productivity as you are allowing your brain to rest and recharge.
If you integrate walking into your daily routine, you can improve your mental health, enhance creativity, maintain focus, and keep a healthy balance between work and your well-being.
Convinced? Well then, how do I start?
Set a step goal
Setting a goal encourages consistency. even better, setting attainable and realistic goals prevents you from discouragement and helps you create a new long-term habit.
- To set a realistic goal you first have to know your baseline steps. Consider buying a budget-friendly fitness tracker or using an app on your phone. I will talk more about apps and gadgets you can use down below so keep reading!. By knowing how many steps you are taking currently, you can set an attainable goal for yourself.
- Consider your lifestyle. Take a piece of paper (even better if you have a planner) and write down your basic daily routine. Include work hours, hobby activities, any other responsibilities, and free time. Make sure your step goal is feasible within your schedule.
- Give thought to your fitness level. If you are new to physical activity, start with a lower goal and increase it over time.
- Set specific targets. Instead of saying “My goal is to walk more” which is vague and ever-so-changing, say “I will walk 4,000 steps daily”. This makes it easy to know when you have reached your goal or if it needs further assessment. Set a concrete number or range.
- Plan your steps. Decide what activities you would like to try out. You can schedule in walking-specific time blocks. For example, walking to a park, exploring a new route, or planning an outdoor hang-out with friends. You can also integrate walking into your daily routine. For example, take short breaks in between work, walk after each meal, or as you run errands.
- Track and adjust. Track your progress using an app or set daily reminders to get up and walk. It’s okay to change your goals as you progress to make sure they are still attainable. Decreasing your steps is okay! if that means you can stay consistent. you can increase your goal as your fitness improves.
You can use this simple format to track your goal.
Activity ideas for increasing your daily steps
Over the years I have accumulated plenty of ideas to trick my brain into thinking that walking is fun, and let me tell you, it works! I will divide them into 2 categories; Activities where you have to schedule in the time, and activities you can pepper in through your daily routine.
Scheduled activities
- The classic treadmill session. Pick a time that works best for you and spend 30-50 minutes on the treadmill walking at a pace you find comfortable. Make sure you are following treadmill safety.
- Walk around your home. If you do not have access to a treadmill you walk around your house or a room. multitask by listening to a podcast or audiobook. set a timer!
- Take virtual tours. watch virtual tours of cities or nature trails as you march in place! Super easy to search for “virtual walking tour” on YouTube and explore a new place each session.
- Scavenger hunts. Create a scavenger hunt for yourself with simple objects you can find around your home, or utilize the ones I created found below! a great way to add steps and please your inner child.
- Walking your pet. If you have a dog (or a cat, a bunny, a lizard, parrot?) you can take a morning stroll around your neighborhood.
- Outdoor art adventure. Take some art supplies outdoors and find an inspiring location to paint. Perfect time to get more steps and try out plein air! Alternatively, take your iPad or tablet for a digital art plein air experience.
- Quest for extra steps. Turn your step count into a game quest. Set daily or hourly step goals and reward yourself. Make sure your rewards are helping and not hindering your goals. I do not suggest adding “Buy a big tub of ice cream” to your reward list, but rather “Have a bubble bath this weekend”! Try some of my free and sustainable rewards for you below
- Take your job to a new location. walk to a nearby cafe, park, or any calming spot on days where you are doing admin work such as answering emails, scheduling content, planning tasks, designing, and organizing your systems.
- Take a walk first thing in the morning. Going outside as soon as you wake up will make meeting your step goal much easier since you’re getting the first batch of steps out of the way asap.
- Schedule friend and/or family hangouts. Walking with others a couple of times a month has enormous benefits. Physical activity combined with positive social interaction can improve negative moods, ward off depression, and improve self-esteem.
Activities that fit into your daily routine
- Park further. If you are going out and running some errands, park your car furthest away from the entrance so you get to walk more.
- Do not lump tasks. If you have to do something around your home, do not wait until you have to do 2 or 3 things and lump them together to make one trip. Do each task individually as it comes, which will make you move a little more.
- Do not skip your chores. If you hate doing your daily chores (like me!) reframe your mindset into thinking every chore is an opportunity to move your body more. no, mopping the floors isn’t boring. your heart and muscles are loving it!
- Always take the long route. If you have an option to take the short or long way, pick the long way.
- Steps in the shower. Stay with me in this one, If you listen to music while you shower, have a little dance party in the shower! if you’re not a music listener but more of a brainstormer and you get the best ideas in the shower, try marching or stepping side to side, front back, adding some steps while you think and shower is very time efficient. Please be very careful, its slippery!
- Walk during phone calls or virtual meetings. pace around your home or step outside while you chat.
- TV-break cardio. Commit to getting up and walking around some in-between episodes if you’re in the middle of a binge-watch or movie marathon.
- Hydration station. Use a small glass of water, so you have to get up and refill it each time.
- Work breaks. Try the Pomodoro technique. Set a timer for 45 minutes to an hour, and during each break, you can walk around your space or have a mini dance party
- Friendly step challenges. Challenge your friends, family, or coworkers to a step competition. use fitness apps to track and compare your progress. You can even keep score and the loser has to do a penalty and/or the winner gets a prize!
- Standing desk. If you stream, consider a standing desk or a treadmill desk. you can walk slowly while interacting with your audience. For admin work is also perfect.
- Game-triggered workouts. Set a rule where in-game actions trigger a physical activity. For example, every time you die, you have to walk around the house once. Every time you level up, you go up and down the flight of stairs. Try some of my game triggers below!
- Walking music playlist. Romanticize your walks by creating an inspiring playlist to walk to.
- Outdoor brainstorming. Take brainstorming outside where you think about ideas for your next art piece, your next content batch, or work session. Bring with you a notepad or your phone to record your voice as you come up with ideas and solutions.
- Walk after a meal: After each meal and snack, take a short stroll around your house. Besides getting some steps in, it aids digestion!
A little tip: It’s easier to remember to walk if you link it to a daily activity you already do, like eating, going to the restroom, brushing your teeth, getting dressed, etc. Take something you already do and assign some steps to it.
For example:
- “Every morning before I turn on my computer for work, I will go for a short walk around the neighborhood.”
- “Every time I get up to go to the restroom, on my way back I will walk around my garden five times.”
- “Before my wind-down time each afternoon, I will set a timer to walk for 10 minutes.”
You get the idea—it’s easier to form a habit that way.
Important tips
Do not forget your comfort. Make sure you wear comfortable shoes and weather-appropriate clothing if you plan on taking walks outdoors, as well as a water bottle.
Do it safely. If you plan to walk at night, keep an eye on your surroundings, and wear brightly colored clothes. if walking by yourself always tell someone which route you’re taking and walk in well-lit and safe locations.
Switch up your routine. If you walk outdoors, plan different routes. if you walk indoors, try different activities.
Don’t worry about missed days. If you get busy and unable to walk for the day, it’s okay. you got sick and had to stay in bed for days or weeks? it’s okay. What if you forgot to go on daily walks from time to time? it’s okay. Just don’t give up, and keep reminding yourself how good it feels to move your body!
How to track your progress
I understand tracking with a device isn’t for everyone. It is mentally unhealthy for some to track every single movement and become obsessed with it, while for others it might be motivating having a number to beat. Here are 4 simple ways to know if you’re stepping in the right direction
- If tracking with a device is a viable option for you, you can use a smartwatch or a fitness tracker. There is a fitness tracker for just about any budget, some just track steps while others have all sorts of trackers and phone connectivity. My personal favorites are the Apple Watch as it syncs with my iPhone and the brand Garmin has a multitude of smartwatches for all activities and fitness levels, Their Vivoactive and Vivosmart line is designed for everyday use and can sync with Apple and Android. However, you can conduct your research to find a fitness activity tracker that suits your budget and your needs.
When you need a comfortable device that’s with you every step of the way, vívosmart 5 becomes your go-to, easy-to-use fitness tracker, so you can monitor your health and stay active from sunup to sundown.
Purpose-built with advanced health and fitness features, vívoactive 5 is more than just a smartwatch — it’s your personal on-wrist coach there to support your every goal.
- Utilizing your phone is another option. The Google Fit integrated into Android phones is a simple and free app, meanwhile, Apple Health for iPhone is also a wonderful option. If you are looking for better aesthetics or more functionality, I recommend the free apps below.
- If tracking with a device isn’t for you, you can guesstimate by time. If you schedule in time to walk, write down how much time you’re assigning to getting some steps in per day, and then refer to the table below to get a rough estimate of how many steps you’re walking. Take into consideration that how many steps you take in a minute varies based on your stride length and walking speed, but these numbers are the average.
| Time | Steps |
|---|---|
| 1 minute | 90 steps |
| 10 minutes | 900 steps |
| 30 minutes | 2,700 steps |
| 1 hour | 5,400 steps |
You can time yourself walking for 1 minute, count how many steps you take, and use that to calculate the total number of steps you took during your scheduled walking time.
- If you’re just starting and tracking feels daunting, you know your time and body better than anybody else. If this week you spent 10 minutes doing an extra activity you had not done before, that is progress. If you up your effort to 3 new activities the following week, that’s even better progress. You can add a new activity each week and celebrate your wins as you get used to walking more, and later upgrade to tracking in your preferred way.
Wrapping it up
Boosting your daily step count while working from home may seem challenging, but you can achieve it with some simple strategies. By adding more movement into your daily routine you can enjoy many physical and mental benefits.
Remember to set realistic goals and increase gradually, this is the key to maintained and constant success, walking every day will be a natural part of your day in no time!
So, let’s get moving! Lace-up your walking shoes, step away from your desk, and take those first steps toward a healthier, more active lifestyle. Your body and mind will thank you, and your creative work will flourish as a result.
If you found this post helpful, share it with your friends, family, or someone who might need it. And comment down below, how’s your progress going? Have you found new ways to achieve your step goal? I’d love to know about it.
Happy walking!
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