Why I Walk: Or how thinking about evolution made me worry about my health and love to walk Presentation by Robert Stribley at Fish Talks, Razorfish, NY, Wednesday, August 20, 2014

1. Why I Walk
Or how thinking about evolution made me worry
about my health and love to walk

4. There’s some evidence to suggest our
Stone Age, hunter-gatherer forbearers
may have moved 10+ miles a day.

5. the Lévy Pattern
Humans still follow the Lévy pattern when we walk about college campuses, urban
environments like New York City, places like Disney World
So do insects like honeybees, sharks and monkeys and other mammals

6. Evidence suggests we evolved to be
runners
We’re actually better long-distance runners
than other mammals
Even horses

12. So where’s that
leave us?

13. millions of years of evolution
and movement
then suddenly this

14. welcome to the matrix

15. “In 1960, 1 out of 2 Americans had a
job where they had lots of physical
activity and actually exercised at work;
by 2008, very few Americans were
doing work that doesn't involve sitting
around all day.”
- Dr. Tim Church, professor of preventative medicine, Pennington Biomedical
Research Center, LSU

16. Church’s research found:
• We don’t eat that much more today than 20 years ago
– but we move much less
• In the ‘80s, 80 to 90% said they were physical active in
their leisure time.
• Now, up to 50% of Americans admit they’re not active
at all
• From 1960 to 2008, men now burn 140 fewer calories
on the job per day
• Women burn 120 fewer per day
• 1 in 5 Americans say they move on the job, but that's
probably a "gross underestimate”
• Probably more like 1 in 10

17. Similarly, in the late 90s, Loren Cordain, author of
The Paleo Diet found:
• Endurance athletes may expend 5,000 calories a day
• Construction workers and rural agricultural workers
may expend 3,500 calories a day
• Estimated that hunter-gatherers used about 3,000
calories a day
• A sedentary American expends about 1,800 calories a
day
- Study by professor of exercise and sports science Loren Cordain,
Colorado State University

18. You’ve probably heard we should be taking
10,000 steps a day

19. In 2003 study, average American took 5,117 steps a day
West Australian 9,695
Switzerland 9,650
Japan 7,168
A person taking less than 5,000 steps per day is
considered sedentary.
- Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Journal, October 2010

20. Amish men took, on average, more than
18,000 steps a day, and Amish women
averaged more than 14,000 steps a day.
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Journal, January 2004

21. The result?
We’re sitting
A lot
And sitting is bad for us

23. Notice the “sit” in
obesity?

26. Are you sitting
down for this?

27. sitting facts
• We’re spending more time sitting than any other time in
human history:
• 9.3 hours a day (plus 7.7 sleeping)
• Obese people sit 2.5 hours more per day than thinner
people
• As you sit, calorie burning drops to 1 per minute
• Enzymes which break down fat drop 90%
• People with sitting jobs are at 2x the risk for
cardiovascular disease
• Sitting is bad for your back, neck, abdomen
• Sitting 6+ hours per day increases risk of death up to
40% over those sitting less than 3 – even with exercise
• If you sit and watch TV for 3 hours a day you’re 64%
more likely to die of heart disease – even if you
exercise

28. Wait!
How’s that
possible?

29. simple math
• Each time unit of sitting cancels out 8% of
your gain from the same amount of
running
• If you run for 1 hour, then sit for 10, you
lose about 80% of the health benefit from
your workout
• 1 hour of moderate-intensity exercise?
Lose 16% of your workout gain from each
hour of sitting
University of Texas Southwest Medical Center, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, July 2014

30. so
if you work out for 1 hour a day
then sit for 6.25 hours
you’ve pretty much lost all the benefit of
working out

31. OH CRAP!!!!!!!!

32. Solutions?

33. solutions?
If you enjoy running, by all means, run
But if like me, you hate running
Consider walking

34. Remember Jared and his “Subway diet”?
His weight loss was actually due to reduced calories
and … walking.

35. but it’s about health, not weight
Walking alone isn’t a quick ticket to
weight loss.
Just walking 10,000 steps, you won’t
lose a lot of weight.
It’s about overall health.

36. benefits of walking
• Walking burns 3-5 times the calories of sitting
• Decreased depression – increases neuro-transmitters like serotonin,
dopamine and norepinephrine
• Improved attention span – people who stop exercising can develop ADHD
symptoms
• Increased creativity – from a 10-minute walk
• Lower blood pressure
• Increased self esteem
• Improved metabolism
• Improved neurogenesis
• Reduced risk of Alzheimer's
• Reduced risk of diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and more

37. but how?
• skip an hour of TV and go for a walk
• get off the subway a stop or two early
• take the stairs
• walk to the further printer
• go for a walk on your lunch break
• park your car further away from your destination
• walk while you make all your personal phone calls
• don’t stand still on the escalator
• take the long way home
• get a standing desk*
• ride a Citibike**
• practice “aimless walking”
• count your steps
*some restrictions may apply
**not officially walking, but still fun

38. wearable devices and step counting

39. wearing the Jawbone UP+ I noticed some
patterns:
• It takes a lifestyle change to get 10,000 steps in daily
• The number of steps plummets when I travel or go on holiday
• Weekends should be easier but sometimes aren’t
• My schedule often hard to make up lost steps
• I started doing late night walks when I traveled or planning
walks first thing in the morning

40. the conclusion:
our modern day
lifestyles are almost
unavoidably toxic
to our health

41. the solution:
walk on!

42. thank you
@stribs

43. further reading
“The Anthropology Of Walking,” – NPR, January 09, 2014
“The Crisis in American Walking,” – Slate, April 2012
“The Evolution of Marathon Running Capabilities in Humans,” Sports Med, 2007
“How many steps/day are enough? Preliminary pedometer indices for public health,” Sports Med 2004
“How Much Does Sitting Negate Your Workout Benefits?” Runner’s World, July 14, 2014
“How Exercise May Keep Alzheimer’s at Bay” – New York Times, January 18, 2012
“Hungry animals, people use ‘Levy walk’” – The Washington Post, December 2013
“Pedometer-Measured Physical Activity and Health Behaviors in U.S. Adults” – Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Journal,
October 2010
“Physical Activity in an Old Order Amish Community” – Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Journal, January 2004
“Phys Ed: Your Brain on Exercise” – New York Times, July 7, 2010
“Stone Age Aerobics” – Los Angeles Times, January 23, 1997
“Trends over 5 Decades in U.S. Occupation-Related Physical Activity and Their Associations with Obesity” – May 25, 2011
“What Makes Us Fat: Is It Eating Too Much Or Moving Too Little?” – NPR, August 04, 2014
“Why not even exercise will undo the harm of sitting all day—and what you can do about it” – Quartz, June 26, 2014
“Why 10,000 Steps a Day Won't Make You Thin” - U.S. News & World Report, May 2014
“Why Walking Matters” – WBUR, May 19, 2014