We’ve long been stereotyped as being a country full of strong, fit people, but a recent study has proved that Australians aren’t nearly as active as previously thought. Conducted in response to the rising rates of physical inactivity and the associated consequences on our health, scientists at Stanford University have conducted a study to determine the average number of steps taken by people across the globe. The study was conducted by scientists who took note of the average number of steps recorded by the Argus activity app, which monitors users’ daily movement, and is used by more than 700,000 people worldwide.
So what does this tell us about Australia’s activity levels? Well, the news isn’t great. We’ve been told for years that we should be aiming for 10,000 steps a day, but the study indicated that Australians average 4,941 steps daily. That’s right – we’re not even halfway there. The worldwide average was 4,961 steps per day so, while we’re not far behind the rest of the world, we’re well behind when it comes to taking care of our health.