Walking counts. Here is how much you actually need.

Walking has an image problem. It feels too easy to count as exercise, so people skip it while they wait to find the motivation for something harder. That is a mistake. For most adults, walking is one of the most useful things you can do for your heart, your blood sugar, your mood and your joints.

What the guidelines say

The World Health Organization recommends that adults get 150 to 300 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity, plus muscle-strengthening work on at least two days. Brisk walking counts as moderate activity. That works out to about 30 minutes, five days a week.

The guidelines also say something that gets less attention: any activity is better than none. If 150 minutes sounds impossible right now, 60 minutes is still a real improvement over zero.

How brisk is brisk?

Use the talk test. At a moderate pace you can hold a conversation, but you could not comfortably sing. Your breathing is a little quicker and you might feel warm. If you can sing, speed up a little. If you can only get out a few words at a time, you have moved into vigorous territory, which is also fine.

What about 10,000 steps?

The 10,000 figure did not come from a clinical trial. It is usually traced to a Japanese pedometer sold in the 1960s whose name roughly meant “10,000 step meter.” It is a nice round number, not a threshold.

Better evidence now exists. A 2022 analysis in The Lancet Public Health pooled data from 15 studies and nearly 50,000 adults. People who took more steps each day had a lower risk of dying during the study period. The benefits grew with more steps and then leveled off at around 6,000 to 8,000 steps a day for adults over 60, and around 8,000 to 10,000 for younger adults.

The most useful finding was at the low end. The biggest gains came from moving out of the least active group. If you average 3,000 steps today, getting to 5,000 matters more than any number on a fitness tracker’s goal ring.

The walk after dinner

When you eat, your blood sugar rises and then falls as your body moves glucose into your cells. Working muscles take up glucose on their own, so moving after a meal helps flatten that curve.

A 2022 review in Sports Medicine found that light walking after eating lowered the post-meal rise in blood sugar compared with sitting, and even a few minutes helped. This is useful for everyone, and especially relevant if you have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. A 10 to 15 minute stroll after your largest meal is an easy place to start.

How to build the habit

Find your baseline first. Look at your phone’s step count for the past week, or simply note how many minutes you walk on a normal day. Then add a small amount, such as 10 minutes a day or 1,000 more steps, and hold that for a week or two before adding more.

A few tricks make walking automatic instead of another task on your list:

• Attach it to something you already do, such as the first coffee, the lunch break or the end of the workday.
• Take phone calls on foot.
• Get off the bus a stop early or park at the far end of the lot.
• Walk with someone. It is harder to skip when a friend is waiting.

Comfortable shoes help, and you do not need special gear beyond that. If the weather is bad, a shopping center, a staircase or a few laps of your home all work.

A note on safety

Walking is safe for most people. Talk to a doctor before starting if you have a heart condition, chest pain or dizziness when you exert yourself, or a joint problem that flares with activity. If you feel chest pain, severe shortness of breath or faintness while walking, stop and get medical help.

Your small step this week

After your biggest meal of the day, walk for ten minutes. Do it five times this week. It counts as exercise, it helps your blood sugar, and it is a pleasant way to end the day.