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More steps every day: 12 ideas without a workout plan

You don't have to become sporty to move more. Just a few thousand extra steps a day make a difference, and most of them fit into the everyday life you already have. Here's what the research says and how to put it into practice.

Updated 31 October 2026 · 4 min read

How many steps are enough?

The famous 10,000 steps aren't a medical threshold. According to a review in the journal Sports Medicine, the figure goes back to Japanese walking clubs and a business slogan, not to medical studies.

Newer research shows that fewer steps already help a lot. A large 2025 analysis of 57 studies compared people taking around 7,000 steps a day with people taking 2,000. At 7,000 steps, the risk of dying during the observation period was 47% lower and the risk of cardiovascular disease 25% lower. The risk of dementia was 38% lower, although that figure is based on only two studies. Most of the benefit was already reached in the range of 5,000 to 7,000 steps, and the gains became smaller above that.

An earlier analysis of 15 studies with around 47,000 adults painted a similar picture: for people aged 60 and over, the risk of death fell up to about 6,000 to 8,000 steps a day, and for younger adults up to about 8,000 to 10,000.

The World Health Organization recommends 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity activity a week for adults, such as brisk walking. But it also stresses that every move counts, and some activity is better than none.

12 ideas for more steps

  1. Get off one stop early. Or get on one stop later. That adds a few hundred steps to every journey.
  2. Walk the short trips. Bakery, post box, pharmacy: anything within a quarter of an hour on foot doesn't need the car.
  3. Walk while you talk. Lots of calls don't need a screen. Stand up and walk while you're on the phone.
  4. Take the stairs, not the lift. At least for one or two floors.
  5. A walk after meals. Ten minutes after lunch or dinner quickly becomes a habit.
  6. Meet for a walk. Instead of coffee at a table: coffee to go and a loop around the neighbourhood.
  7. Use your break. A short walk around the block at lunchtime, even when working from home.
  8. Make the dog walk longer. A five-minute detour barely shows, but it adds up over the week.
  9. Shop in two trips. Better two smaller trips on foot than one big one by car.
  10. Take the kids on foot. To school, to sport, to friends: walk together instead of driving.
  11. A new street every day. On a familiar route, take the parallel street for once. Curiosity makes detours easy.
  12. A longer loop at the weekend. A neighbourhood you don't know yet is a good goal; more on that in our guide Every Single Street.

How to keep it up

  • Make if-then plans. “When I get off the train, I'll walk the last stop.” Concrete plans like this have been shown to help people follow through on goals. An analysis of 94 studies found a medium-to-large effect.
  • Count your steps. You don't need a watch; the phone in your pocket is enough. Look at your average for a normal week and build up from there in small steps.
  • Make it a game. In a study of 602 adults, participants who competed against each other in a game-like setup walked about 920 more steps a day on average during the programme than the comparison group.
  • Walk with others. Arrange regular walks. If someone is expecting you, you'll go even when the weather is bad.

If you have health conditions or haven't been active for a long time, talk to your doctor before increasing your activity a lot.

How CLAYM helps

CLAYM counts your kilometres without you having to do any extra exercise: walks, dog walks, the way to work, it all counts. Every street that's new to you earns points. That turns the detour down the parallel street into a reason, and with friends in a shared leaderboard it becomes a little competition.

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