{
  "id": 1244555,
  "title": "You Don’t Need 10,000 Steps to Help Your Heart",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/16/you-dont-need-10-000-steps-to-help-your-heart",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-16T10:00:04.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Time",
    "slug": "time",
    "url": "https://time.com/article/2026/08/16/every-step-counts-better-heart-health-sadiya-khan-essay/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Exercise is known to be beneficial for health, yet the impact of a sedentary lifestyle is often overlooked. This issue was highlighted decades ago through a landmark study involving over 30,000 London transportation employees who experienced different levels of physical activity. Those who spent their days sitting behind the wheel of a bus had a higher risk of coronary heart disease compared to conductors who engaged in more movement throughout their workday. This observation fundamentally changed our understanding of the role of physical activity in preventing heart disease. Since then, research has consistently shown that regular exercise lowers the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and can contribute to longer, healthier lives. The American Heart Association and federal guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, alongside muscle-strengthening activities. Despite this evidence, physical inactivity remains a significant public health challenge, with fewer than half of U.S. adults meeting the recommended activity levels. The \"bus driver\" problem has become more prevalent due to our modern lifestyles, with physical inactivity contributing to millions of deaths worldwide each year. Clinicians should approach physical inactivity as they do other major cardiovascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure or cholesterol. However, exercise is often not addressed in a systematic manner, and even after a cardiac event, less than one-third of patients participate in recommended rehabilitation programs. The potential of wearable devices to help track and modify movement behaviors is significant, but the overwhelming amount of health advice can be confusing. Step counts, although not scientifically based, can serve as a starting point for individuals to increase their daily activity levels. Instead of focusing on an arbitrary target like 10,000 steps, a more achievable approach is to gradually increase one's step count, starting from where they currently are. Regular walking, along with other forms of exercise, offers numerous benefits beyond heart health, including better sleep, improved mood, and cognitive function. However, the decision to exercise is influenced by one's environment, which emphasizes the importance of creating safe and accessible communities to support an active lifestyle.",
  "summary": "\"Why don’t we, as clinicians, approach physical inactivity the way we do other major cardiovascular risk factors?\" writes cardiologist Sadiya Khan in an essay for TIME.",
  "key_points": [
    "Bus drivers face higher coronary heart disease risk due to sedentary work",
    "American guidelines recommend 150 minutes moderate exercise weekly",
    "Step counts can motivate activity increase, but 10,000 steps is arbitrary"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}