Steps

In a spare and uncluttered moment of thought, a rare thing indeed in my otherwise busy family and working life, I can often be found browsing through the data on my mobile phone, specifically that under the Health and Activity App.

It is a fascinating bit of data in recording the number of steps in normal walking mode assuming of course that my phone is attached to my body.

We are all subject to the propaganda associated with Government led well-being initiatives about what is a recommended daily step rate to get mind and body active. In recent days my own age group, the over 50's , has seen the publishing of a scientific study with strong guidance on regular exercise as a means to try to offset degenerative diseases of limb, muscle and brain cell function.

I have heard that about 10,000 steps is the target.

My initial perception of what 10,000 steps looks like in a linear distance was confused.

Based on an average adult stride length of around two to two and a half feet this means that it would take about 2000 steps to cover a British mile. Therefore, by simple extrapolation any one intent in acheiving 10,000 steps would be covering almost 5 miles.

If you bear in mind the average human walking speed, making allowances for factors such as the height, weight and age of the walker, the topography of the terrain, quality of the surface under the feet, any imposed or carried load, matters of culture and of course fitness this could mean only about 3 miles per hour.

Not many of us in our busy lives could, I warrant be able even if certainly willing to dedicate the equivalent of one hour and forty minutes to reaching that elusive magic number of steps. Some do achieve it, not so much in one single effort but on an accumulative basis during the day. I can see where a brisk walk to a place of work or as part of a normal day for most plus the return journey and with the chance of shorter trips through the course of a day could add up to or at least within striking distance of 10,000 steps.

However, there are many, many obstacles in the way of such a project and indeed it is generally thought that a sedentary person may only average from 1000 to 3000 steps in a day.

So how does my personal step data look?

I do consider myself to be active on a daily basis. My job does involve a lot of walking and stair-climbing although this is very much secondary to the fact that the same job involves up to 6 hours of driving between appointments. A prolonged driving position tends to negate any mobility benefits of the walking and staircase use which intersperses the road mileage.

My data file on steps goes back on the phone memory storage to 31st March 2015.

That was a day of only 1882 steps, an inauspicious start to my intended health revolution. The trend for the April of 2015 suggests an improvement in walking activity peaking at an incredible 20,629 steps or around 10 miles on one particular day although I cannot recall what the reason for this was, whether an intentional rural hike or a data malfunction.

It was not until some four months later that I managed anywhere near this personal best, generally prior to that my daily average being around 4000.

Weekend data is quite a shock as I am certainly as busy as during the week but on more pleasurable pursuits for family and home and yet a saturday and sunday average can be as paltry as a few hundred steps. I can explain that apparent sloth away by saying in defence that I often abandon my phone over the weekend and so actual data escapes the formal record.

That sounds convincing enough to me.

I am ashamed to say that the next occasion of reaching a five digit step number was not until January 2017, this being a long urban walk to and from the centre of my home town to attend a audio-visual and firework display to mark the start of the role as UK City of Culture.

The April 2015 figure remains as a personal best and will be unassailable for the foreseeable future.

I fell down a hole earlier on this month (April 2017) causing major damage to my right leg quad tendon which required an operation. Consequently. post operative, I am on a no weight bearing regime for at least 6 to 8 weeks. That is bad enough but my immobility is wreaking havoc with my Health and Activity data.

My current daily average is, well, it is not a typographical error,but a mere 10 steps.

That sounds about right for the physical extent of my current world which stretches from my sleeping bed to my day bed plus the excitement of a one-off excursion to the bathroom.

I am conscious of some scope for improvement to attain the heady levels of my previous activity but in the meantime and in the interests of my sanity I will simply turn the App off.