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Comment by tayo42 | Hacker News Reader

49 minutes of walking a day is higher then I woukd have guessed for the lowest quartile. Office/desk work is brutal for getting movement in.

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That includes walking to the coffee-machine, to the elevator, to the car, etc.

If you walk a moderate 100 steps/minute, 49 minutes of walking is just 4900 steps which is easy to hit without even really intentionally walking anywhere, unless you work from home without going outside

It depends on where you live. In a European or Asian city it’s just a normal commute. In North America it can be more difficult outside of cities.

Not really. I pace around my house all the time when I work from home. I go up and down the stairs a dozen or so times a day. I walk the dog twice a day most days.

Put some headphones on and walk. If you live outside of the city you have even more nature to walk in.

When you walk do you do so on sidewalks?

I think the article got confused between per-week and per-day; otherwise the numbers are internally inconsistent, and difficult to believe. I don't think the top quartile of the US exercises 3 hours a day! And there's no way the bottom quartile exercises 49 minutes a day: 49 minutes a week for chores, errands, and walking to/from your car sounds more correct.

Also note that they were wearing hip pedometers, which might overestimate "moderate" exercise compared to something that also tracks heart rate.

> I don't think the top quartile of the US exercises 3 hours a day!

Moderate exercise, plenty of people are on their feet all day for work.

Office/desk work is better than WFH for getting movement in. A basic stuck at desk all day sort of day would be no less than 4k steps for me - WFH ~0 steps.

The number of steps is only a small part of the equation, sustaining walking elevates your heart rate in a way that going to grab a snickers in the office kitchen doesn't.

WFH is 10x better because all the commute time can be transformed in walking around the block or exercising at home instead of being in a car or public transport.

WFH is different for everyone. I used to walk to the subway, stand/pace around the platform waiting, walk from the subway to work, walk to lunch, walk to errands on the way home. Now I drive constantly around the suburbs.

People will naturally do that 5 days a week working in a city, there's no "well just go take a walk" handwaving.

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