Try This – 4 Powerful Shares To Get You Walking

Try This community, walking might be the most underrated health tool we have.

Want to keep weight off for good? There’s a magic number for daily step count. 

Want fewer arguments with your spouse? Lace up your shoes because walking can help. 

Worried about your parents slowing down with age? There's a walking stat that is important for you to know. 

After my recent podcast with Dr. Courtney Conley, hundreds of you wrote in saying you were inspired to double down on your daily steps, and so am I! 

Today's newsletter is dedicated to continuing the conversation on walking. We’ve got some fascinating and breaking research that will help you and your family stay consistent with walking because not walking is not an option if you want to stave off modern diseases. 

Let's get into it!

Number 1: Hot off the Press: The Step Count That Stops Weight Regain

A brand-new meta-analysis presented at the European Congress on Obesity analyzed 14 randomized controlled trials involving nearly 4,000 adults and landed on a surprisingly specific number: About 8,500 steps per day may be the sweet spot for keeping weight off long-term.

And honestly, this is the part of weight loss we don’t talk about enough.

Most people can lose weight in the short term. The real challenge is maintenance. Research consistently shows that roughly 80 percent of people regain some or all of the weight within 3–5 years. But in this new analysis, participants who increased their activity to around 8,500 daily steps during the weight-loss phase—and then kept that habit going—were able to maintain most of their results long after the diet ended.

What’s especially interesting is that more walking didn’t seem to dramatically increase weight loss during the active dieting phase itself. That work was largely being driven by calorie restriction. Walking’s real superpower showed up later: helping prevent the slow creep of weight regain over time.

This feels especially relevant right now for people using GLP-1 medications—or coming off them—because we know that sustainable weight loss is the goal. 

Send this to anyone whose goal is to lose weight. They might really want to be on top of that 8,500-step-count number! 

Number 2: Pedometer++ Step-Tracking App

Right now, I'm not wearing an Apple Watch or anything to track my steps during the day, so I default to using my iPhone. And being a new father, I pretty much always have my phone in hand, even during walks.

But one mildly annoying thing about the iPhone is that the default step counter in the Health app is often delayed. It can take several minutes for it to update your current step count, which isn’t ideal when I’m shooting for a step goal on a quick walking break.

A few months ago, I came across the Pedometer++ app, and not only does the free version have a real-time pedometer, but it also has a bunch of other great features that make it more fun and likely that you’ll hit your step count—things like a snapshot of your weekly progress and a badges page to track your consistency.

They have a paid version, but honestly, the free version is so good that I haven’t upgraded.

Number 3: Walking = Less Fighting

There's actually a wild body of research on how walking reduces conflict, especially between couples.

A 2017 paper in American Psychologist synthesized decades of work, and the premise is striking: When two people walk side by side, their steps unconsciously sync up. That synchrony has been shown to boost empathy and make it easier to take your partner's perspective.

The position matters too. Face-to-face conversations over hard topics ramp up dominance behavior and pressure tactics. Walking puts you shoulder to shoulder, both facing the same direction. Add in the stress reduction and creativity boost walking gives you, and you have a powerful, low-cost tool sitting right there.

One more layer worth noting: As I've shared in past newsletters, the late Dr. Francine Shapiro developed EMDR therapy after a walk in the park, where she noticed her own distressing thoughts lost their grip as her eyes naturally scanned back and forth. Walking outdoors and letting your gaze sweep the horizon does something similar, calming the nervous system through that same bilateral eye movement. Hat tip to her foundational work.

So next time you and your spouse are stuck on something, get off the couch. Put on your shoes. Walk it out.

Number 4: Keeping Your Parents Healthy: Hearing Loss and Walking Speed

If you've been reading for a while, you know I think a lot about my parents' health and how to keep them sharp and strong as they age. When I came across this Wall Street Journal piece (subscription needed) from three days ago, I knew I had to share it, because I know many of you are in the same boat with your own folks.

Apple just published a massive new study with the University of Michigan, analyzing data from 57,183 iPhone users, and here’s the main finding: Hearing loss is linked to slower walking speeds, with the correlation strongest in adults 60 and older.

As Dr. Conley explained in our interview, walking speed is what researchers now call the "sixth vital sign," and it’s as telling about your overall health as heart rate or blood pressure. Slower gait has already been tied to higher dementia risk, more falls, depression, and earlier mortality. And hearing loss appears to drag walking speed down through several pathways at once. Your brain works harder to hear, which steals resources from other functions. Inner ear problems affect balance. People who can't hear well move more cautiously and withdraw socially.

The encouraging part: A separate three-year Johns Hopkins trial found that hearing aids significantly reduced cognitive decline AND the risk of falls in older adults at risk of dementia. So this is fixable.

If your parents are over 60 and you've noticed them slowing down, the answer might not be their knees. It might be their ears. Encourage them to get tested to see if they need hearing aids. There’s no shame in this; even younger people need hearing aids. It’s all about making your experience as joyful and easy as possible. 

That’s it for now. See you next week. 

Much love,
Dhru Purohit 

The information in this newsletter is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice; please consult a qualified healthcare professional before making any health-related decisions.