The Activity Paradox: Why Physical Jobs Seem So Much Worse For Us Than Exercise

Good news for those who don’t hit 10,000 steps a day: that number was actually picked as part of a marketing campaign, and not because there’s anything medically special about it. 

In fact, researchers think that we can significantly reduce our risk of heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, dementia, depression, and falls with 7,000 steps a day.

But not all of those steps (or any other exercise) might be equal, depending on the context in which we complete them, the activity paradox posits.