Remember when Kenyans were obsessed with hitting 10,000 steps a day? Suddenly, office lifts were empty, supermarket escalators became redundant, and people proudly parked farther just to walk more.
Well, turns out you didn’t need to push that far. A new study highlighted in Lancet Health, backed by clinical nutritionist Micah Kibera, shows that you can reap the biggest health rewards of lowering risks of heart disease, dementia, and depression from as few as 7,000 steps.
But it’s not just about the number. Mr Kibera explains that the quality of those steps, guided by heart rate zones, matters just as much as the count.
Steps count but intensity counts more…
There is something called heart rate zones, which is how fast your heart is beating versus what you are doing, and there are five levels.
“The first one is light and is normally a reflection of about 50–60 percent of the maximum heart rate you should be having. For instance, dancing rhumba or even easy pace done in churches or leisure walking,” he says.
A new study published by the Lancet Public Health shows that walking about 7, 000 steps every day is enough to offer better health outcomes.
Photo credit: Photo | Pool
When you go to zone two, it is a comfortable pace about 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. For example, when you go to the mall, people are walking with their loved ones.
“Then there is a third heart rate zone (70–80 percent) which is moderately intense, like jogging, riding a stationary bicycle in the gym for warm up. You can hold a conversation, but at the same time, you have to pause to breathe.”
Then there is zone four, 80 to 100 percent, which is a bit fast and you are breathing forcefully.
“You can equate it to someone on a long-distance run, and as they approach the end of the marathon, they sprint; entering zone five, which is equated to the last kick of survival; 90–100 percent.”
Mr Kibera shares, zone five should not last for long, as it will have a negative effect on the muscles and even have a cardiac arrest, where your heart doesn’t know whether blood is leaving or coming back.
“We use heart rate zones to determine the quality of steps (the faster you are taking the steps) you should be taking."
He says 7,000 steps is a number, but the quality of steps depends on the individual. “If you want to take the 7k steps when your heart rate is between 50–60 percent and you are young, I will wonder why you are living below your potential, and the higher you get, the more the benefits, but be careful how long you stay in that high.”
So, which is the best level for weight loss?
Heart rate zone three, because it is movement that is comfortable and pushes you beyond the first phase of energy requirement, which is substrate.
He mirrors this by using charcoal to cook or even roast. “You always need an igniter; a fluid. So, some of us we take the ash, we sprinkle a bit of kerosene on it, then we put it at the lower level below where we piled our charcoal, and then we light it up. And we keep the vents open so that the fire breathes.
The minute the coal or the firewood turns red, we close the vents, and now we have a longer burn without exhaustion of the fuel. That is what heart rate zone three does for us.”
Once you’re done with your first 15 minutes of movement, after that the body goes into conversion of non-glucose sources of energy, either your protein stores in your muscles or your body fat.
For the elderly (anyone beyond the age bracket), Mr Kibera says their 7,000 steps should be within zone one or two.
How then should you calculate your ideal heart rate?
“By taking 206.9 minus your age that has already been multiplied by 0.67; that is the maximum heart rate you should ever record while doing anything.”
If you surpass it, then you are straining. And you know, when you are exercising, you are not supposed to be in pain. But remember, heart rate changes with age. The older you get, the lower your heart rate becomes.
Does the 7k steps substitute going to the gym?
“It complements going to the gym,” Mr Kibera says, adding that you still need to exercise consistently. The World Health Organisation (WHO) gives the bare minimum minutes we need to indulge in physical activities per week. For adults, it is 150 minutes.
“If you choose to do the whole 150 minutes in a day, or distribute them within five days, it's up to you, but there is something we call adaptation.”
For example, picture someone who goes harder to the gym, and then after the gym, they are sedentary, they do nothing. Compare him or her to someone who achieves the 7,000 steps per day.
"The latter will have lower risks than the former. Why? Because when you go to the gym, you're going for 50 minutes to an hour. You lift your heaviest, and you overexert yourself. When you stop those activities, the body thinks as though you are in a state of risk and you need to get out of that environment very fast. So, it becomes more of a flight, fright, or fight response situation. All you are doing is reacting to adrenaline."
The moment you go sedentary, the body thinks, 'we fought out that situation.' But when you leave the gym and you continue to actively involve your muscles in things you're doing, your muscles keep on consuming energy, and you get beyond that barrier of two hours, whereby you rely on your muscles as a source of energy.
You start having benefits. Because what happens is your muscles become more durable in terms of how long you can do an activity. Flexible; how far can you bend them? And strength, how much more can you resist?
7k steps + eating poorly is equal to?
If someone walks 7,000 steps every day but eats poorly, will they reap some benefits? "That is counter-productive," Mr Kibera says. Why are you fuelling your body with the wrong thing and expecting it to perform for you when you are doing the right thing?
It is as though you are washing your house with a dirty mop. Every time you swipe, you are leaving streaks. You have to make sure your energy sources are clean, meaning they do not challenge you unintentionally.
