Lofty goals of 10 000 steps per day

This blog shows that running around after our babies and keeping the house in some resemblance of order can clock up 10 000 steps per day.

My husband congratulated me today. Our baby started her first day of school this week. It is an end of an era. We have successfully reared our child from womb to school. The major goals achieved in this time were: sleeping through the night, learning to walk, run and skip, talk with good manners, use the toilet, make simple meals and learn to recognise letters and numbers.

She is young to start school so I feared she wouldn’t be ready but she so is! She was the first one to walk, no confidently stride into the classroom and was so proud to be immediately be starting her school work. She wants to emulate her book worm role model “Matilda” so much that we caught her cutting her own hair to look like her! We are so proud of her and what she has achieved in these few years of her young life.

The school holidays have been filled with relaxing pools days and fun activities like the beach, the zoo, strawberry picking and chocolate factories. I have been so keen to treasure these last moments together, that Mummyotherapy has been on holidays, including finding time to write a well researched blog.

“a standard day of playing with Misaki at home, whilst spot cleaning/ tidying got me to 10 000 steps/ day!”

So I will finish with a proven revelation (case study of 1) of how much we exercise at home while parenting. For Christmas I got a watch with a pedometer. I have been so keen to know how many steps I walk a day as a Mummy to see if I am on track for the magic 10 000 steps/ day.

I was pleased to see that:

• a standard day of playing with Misaki at home, whilst spot cleaning/ tidying got me to 10 000/ day!

• Adding an hours walk got me to about 15 000 steps.

• Adding in a walk around the zoo achieved 18 000 steps. And,

• A day at work was a significantly lower 7000-9000.

So the take away note is, if you are an active Mummy rarely sitting down, you will rack up plenty of steps. It is ideal to be adding in strengthening exercises and to challenge your cardiac fitness by getting short of breath while you walk/ exercise. But don’t be hard on yourself being a busy Mum at home, not finding time for structured exercise, because you are probably achieving the steps goal.

“But don’t be hard on yourself being a busy Mum at home, not finding time for structured exercise, because you are probably achieving the steps goal.”

There is no hard scientific evidence that 10 000 steps is a magic pill for good health. 150 minutes of exercise/ week is the recommendation which can be broken up into what ever lengths work for you. For some however, dedicating minutes to structured exercise may be harder to motivate oneself to do so an incidental 10 000 steps/ day can be more palatable to those that don’t really like exercise.

There are many factors to making someone slim or not (including metabolism and diet) but I have always noticed those people that never stop moving are generally slimmer. You burn quite a few calories doing housework, gardening, exercise. Even standing burns more calories than sitting (How Many Calories Are Burned Daily by Active and Sedentary People? | Livestrong.com). As a parent we are running around trying to get everything done as well as diving in to catch a falling baby or prevent a paint spill. We are certainly active!

“There are many factors to making someone slim or not (including metabolism and diet) but I have always noticed those people that never stop moving are generally slimmer. ”

There is no evidence that walking 10000 steps makes you loose weight but it gives you a lot of benefits that are just as important for your health, especially as Mummies:

• Boost energy

• Aid relaxation

• Gives a sense of achievement and satisfaction

• Improves your mood

• Decreases cholesterol and blood pressure, which

• Decreases the risk of heart disease

• Strengthen bones and muscles but to a lesser degree than resistance exercise

Summary

• As a parent we are likely to be easily clocking up 10 000 steps with our activities of daily living.

• Let this message be a note to be kind to ourselves as Mummies and parents. We should be proud for all that we achieve for our children and ourselves.

• 10000 steps of incidental exercise may be easier to motivate yourself to do than structured exercise.

Melli Tilbrook is the Director and Physiotherapist of Mummyotherapy and also works at Milkwood Studios in Tusmore