Strive for 10,000 steps per day
How many steps should you take every day? Maybe you have heard the guidelines about walking 10,000 steps per day. How far is 10,000 steps anyway? The average person’s stride length is approximately 2.5 feet long. That means it takes just over 2,000 steps to walk one mile, and 10,000 steps is close to 5 miles.
A sedentary person may only average 1,000 to 3,000 steps a day. For these people adding steps has many health benefits. A reasonable goal for most people is to increase average daily steps each week by 500 per day until you can easily average 10,000 per day. Example: If you currently average 3000 steps each day, your goal for week one is 3500 each day. Your week 2 goal is 4000 each day. Continue to increase each week and you should be averaging 10,000 steps by the end of 14 weeks.
Wearing a pedometer is an easy way to track your steps each day. Put it on when you get up in the morning and wear it until bed time. Record your daily steps from the previous day. 
There are many ways to increase your daily steps…
Take a walk with your spouse, child, or friend ~ Walk the dog ~ Use the stairs instead of the elevator ~ Park farther from the store ~ Better yet, walk to the store ~ Get up to change the channel ~ Window shop ~ Plan a walking meeting ~ Walk over to visit a neighbor ~ Get outside to walk around the garden, or do a little weeding. Use your imagination and come up with your own list.
Number of steps you should try and take every day to stay healthy
A group of researchers conducted a study based on 31,000 healthy adults to determine the number of steps required for weight control. Here are the findings:
18 to 40 years old: 12,000 steps per day
40 to 50 years old: 11,000 steps per day
50 to 60 years old: 10,000 steps per day
60 years old above: 8,000 steps per day
The study confirmed that those who set goals, and kept track of their progress, had a 27% average increase in their activity level after 4 months.
There are many pedometers available, however, the cheaper models often do not work effectively.
