Walking 5 minutes Every Hour
Over the last five years, there are many different ways that I have incorporated walking into my day. One of the ways is setting aside five minutes every hour to take a short walk.
How I Walk Every Hour
I have not always taken this approach but it is one that I have come to think about more with my current fitness tracker. Currently, I am using the Fitbit Alta HR(Affiliate Link) which includes a feature to track how many hours per day you walk over 250 steps. If you have not walked over 250 steps by 10 to the hour it will vibrate to remind you. Having a feature like this definitely helps to keep it top of mind throughout the day.
There are days that I absolutely feel like the vibrate comes every single hour. Those days where I just do not remember to walk every hour and have to be reminded. But there are also days that I get to the end without a single vibrate. Often it ends up somewhere in the middle.
Benefits of Walking Every Hour
The greatest benefit that I find to walking every hour is that it breaks up periods of sitting. There are times in the past when I could easily sit at the computer or in front of the TV for 2-4 hours. Barely moving unless I needed a drink or a toilet break. There are still long periods when I do not walk, but these are generally later in the evening when I am winding down for the day anyway.
You also have the benefit that if you are walking at least the minimum 250 steps ever hour, it helps to spread your walking through the day. I often find that if I get up and do a 5-minute walk, I usually end up with closer to 500 steps each hour anyway. With my hourly walks set for every hour between 8 am and 6 pm that is 10 hours of hourly walking giving me 5,000 steps.
Downsides of Walking Every Hour
Potentially the biggest downside for walking every hour for me is the break in my workflow. At times this is not a big issue because many things I do are less than 50 minutes anyway. However, there are times that I am working on something and the notification comes to walk. I generally get up and do the walk, but there are times that I don’t get quite back into the work I was doing afterwards.
Walking like this every hour can also have a downside if you have a job that limits your ability to. There are those jobs that you have where it is just not possible due to your job to move every hour. While this is something that hopefully workplaces will address and make easier for employees, it is something that still could pose a problem.
How Do You Walk?
Do you like this idea for getting some walking in each day? If you let me know in the comments. I would also like to know from you how you do your daily walking if you have any hints or tips.
