My phone tells me I’ve been walking around 6,600 steps daily this year. Honestly, that feels pretty small next to the numbers—15,000, 20,000, even 30,000—that influencers constantly flaunt on social media.
The algorithm seems to take particular joy in highlighting my shortcomings. Even though the standard 10,000 steps guideline has been questioned, it appears that many people are aiming even higher now. TikTok and Instagram flood my feed with videos of industrious individuals logging seven-mile walks that take more than three hours, often incorporating numerous outdoor strolls. They’ve turned early mornings into walking sessions, multi-tasking with emails, or even reading while they stroll. Grocery shopping? Oh, they walk there too—sometimes even during meetings, striding around on walking pads or treadmills. It’s all about showing off their Apple Watch stats for proof.
Let’s be real: Walking isn’t bad. In fact, it’s a simple, effective exercise that nearly everyone can do. With Americans spending around 9.5 hours a day seated, anything motivating people to get moving is great. Yet, tracking every step or calorie consumed can feel a bit obsessive at times. There’s also a broader cultural trend that seems to idealize thinness again and mixes with a certain hustle mentality that can turn a simple activity into a stressful goal-chasing endeavor.
Keith Diaz, a behavioral medicine professor at Columbia University, points out that this obsession reflects our culture’s prioritization of productivity. “It’s just another metric we measure ourselves by,” he notes.
From leisure to optimization
Walking stands out as one of the most straightforward and accessible forms of movement. You just do it—no special gear needed. Most of us walk without giving it much thought, which is probably why its popularity as exercise has fluctuated over the years. In the late 1800s, leisure walking was quite fashionable. Fast forward to the fitness craze of the 1980s, when a book called *Heavyhands* promoted adding weights to walking, transforming it into something more robust. “That became,” says Danielle Friedman, author of *Let’s Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped The World*, “a way to make walking not seem weak.”
A viral trend during the pandemic was a big push for walking. With fitness facilities closed and cabin fever settling in, many of us took to walking as a gentler form of exercise compared to the intense workout regimes of the early 2000s. Then, as social media exploded, something like the “hot girl walk”—which encourages a four-mile journey filled with gratitude and goal visualization—changed the game. Over time, the focus on step counts skyrocketed.
There’s a history to tracking steps too. The first modern pedometer, designed in Japan in 1965, branded the 10,000-step goal as the benchmark for good health.
However, research challenges that marketing hype. Studies show that women in their 70s can lower their mortality risk by taking as few as 4,400 steps a day, with less risk linked to 7,500 steps. For middle-aged adults, taking about 8,000 steps has been associated with a lower risk of early death from heart disease and cancer. So, walking in the range of 7,000 to 8,000 steps seems beneficial anyway.
These days, we all carry step counters—from our phones to smartwatches. Health apps have streamlined the process of tracking every step, which can motivate positive change when pursuing specific fitness goals. “You have a target and you have a means to measure it,” notes Diaz, which sounds appealing.
But it’s crucial that you engage in walking because you enjoy it, not because an app or influencer is pushing you. If you’re not genuinely motivated, tracking can easily tip into obsession. It’s easy to get caught up in meeting specific benchmarks, leading to anxiety when those goals aren’t met. “When I first got a Fitbit,” Diaz recalls, “I stopped using it because I found myself pacing in my tiny apartment just to hit my step goal, questioning how healthy that was.”
As research indicates, while quantifying activities can initially boost frequency, it might also diminish enjoyment over time. In just a few days, tracking can change your perception of the activity from pleasure to productivity. You start doing it because it brings a sense of accomplishment instead of enjoyment.
Tracking transforms basic activities into metrics of wellness. Suddenly, hitting step counts becomes “good,” while low readiness scores could feel “bad.” The prevailing health ideal seems to have shifted back towards thinness. Now, every step and every nutrient feels like a number tied to a quest for optimization. If something doesn’t get recorded, it may as well not count.
It’s important to keep walking if it boosts your mental and physical health. However, if hitting daily targets heightens anxiety or makes skipping a day feel impossible, it might be time to reassess your goals. This fixation can lead to an unhealthy pursuit of perfection and cause people to ignore their body’s need for rest, pushing them towards injury.
Diaz recommends considering flexible targets—maybe 8,000 to 12,000 steps a day, or even adjusting based on weekly activity levels. If a busy weekend awaits, there’s less pressure on quieter weekdays.
Ultimately, any wellness approach needs to be sustainable. Whether your body and schedule allow for 20,000 steps or just a few, the key is that it shouldn’t feel like a chore. It’s worth reflecting on whether your fitness activities still bring joy or if they’ve become burdensome. Ideally, exercise should reduce anxiety, not increase it.
