Notes
This book gives general information about an everyday habit. It isn't medical advice, and it's no substitute for a GP or a physiotherapist who knows you. The NHS guidance I mention is for England as I found it in September 2026, and the travel figures are the Department for Transport's National Travel Survey for 2024, which covers England.
I've kept sources out of the chapters where I could so they read easily. Here they are by chapter, with the limits I'm aware of. Unless I say otherwise, I read the published summary of each paper and not the full text. I checked each paper for a retraction or correction notice in September 2026 and found none. Where a chapter isn't listed, it rests on my own reasoning. That includes chapters 1, 2, 3, 9, 11, 16, 19, 20, 23 and 24. The shop, the second-floor office, the car park and the school six hundred yards away are invented.
Before you start. The NHS page "Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64", for the advice to speak to a GP first if you've been inactive or have a condition. The 999 guidance for chest pain is from the NHS chest pain page.
Chapter 3. The NHS page "Walking for health", for three miles an hour and the talk-but-not-sing test. The door-to-door timings are my estimates and the chapter asks you to test them. I know of no study that times short car trips against walking door to door.
Chapter 4. The NHS guidelines page as above, and "Walking for health", for brisk walking counting toward the target. Kelly, Kahlmeier, Götschi, Orsini, Richards, Roberts and colleagues, "Systematic review and meta-analysis of reduction in all-cause mortality from walking and cycling and shape of dose response relationship", International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 11, 2014, article 132. Fourteen studies for walking, adjusted for other physical activity. The standard dose was 11.25 MET hours a week, and my conversion of that to two to three hours of brisk walking assumes brisk walking at about four METs and is approximate. Saint-Maurice, Troiano, Bassett, Graubard, Carlson, Shiroma and colleagues, "Association of daily step count and step intensity with mortality among US adults", Journal of the American Medical Association 323, 2020, pages 1151 to 1160. Four thousand eight hundred and forty adults over forty, followed for about ten years. Both are observational. The book on exercise sessions is Ten minutes counts, in this series.
Chapter 5. Paluch and colleagues, "Daily steps and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis of 15 international cohorts", Lancet Public Health 7, 2022, pages e219 to e228. Forty-seven thousand adults. The claim that standing isn't stepping is mine.
Chapter 6. The NHS page "Walking for health", for the list of ways to walk more. The Department for Transport, National Travel Survey 2024, active travel chapter, for walking trips, stages, miles and trips of a mile or more. England only.
Chapter 7. The NHS guidelines page, for walking up stairs as vigorous activity. Paddock, Veerni, Bhalraam, Meng, Dawson-Plincke, Tsampasian and colleagues, "Evaluating the impact of stair climbing on cardiovascular risk reduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis", American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs, 2026, published online. Nine studies, observational, and the chapter states the limitation. The timings for two floors are mine.
Chapter 8. The National Travel Survey 2024 factsheet, for the change in children walking to school. The rest is mine.
Chapter 10. The National Travel Survey 2024 active travel chapter, for the 2023 question on what would encourage people to walk more. The claim about how many rainy days there are is my expectation from asking people and not a figure.
Chapter 11. The NHS page "Walking for health", for the advice on clothes and shoes.
Chapter 12. Oppezzo and Schwartz, "Give your ideas some legs: the positive effect of walking on creative thinking", Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 40, 2014, pages 1142 to 1152. Four experiments. Martin, Goryakin and Suhrcke, "Does active commuting improve psychological wellbeing? Longitudinal evidence from eighteen waves of the British Household Panel Survey", Preventive Medicine 69, 2014, pages 296 to 303. Nearly eighteen thousand commuters, fixed effects models, effects modest on a thirty-six point scale. Hamer and Chida, "Active commuting and cardiovascular risk: a meta-analytic review", Preventive Medicine 46, 2008, pages 9 to 13. Eight studies. The NHS page "Walking for health", for music and podcasts. The time-relocated argument is mine.
Chapter 13. Thayer, "Energy, tiredness, and tension effects of a sugar snack versus moderate exercise", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 52, 1987, pages 119 to 125. Eighteen volunteers, which the chapter says. The book on sitting is The chair is winning, in this series.
Chapter 14. Kelly and colleagues and Paluch and colleagues as above. The NHS page "Walking for health", for increasing gradually. The claim about legs at eighty is my reasoning.
Chapter 15. The National Travel Survey 2024 factsheet and active travel chapter, for the share of trips by car, walking trips and miles, "just walk", and the 2023 question. The reading of the fifty per cent as the default speaking is mine.
Chapter 17. Saint-Maurice and colleagues, Martin and colleagues, and Oppezzo and Schwartz as above. The claims about money, the neighbourhood and the legs at seventy are my reasoning.
Chapter 18. Carlson, Sallis, Kerr, Conway, Cain, Frank and colleagues, "Built environment characteristics and parent active transportation are associated with active travel to school in youth age 12-15", British Journal of Sports Medicine 48, 2014, pages 1634 to 1639. Two hundred and ninety-four American adolescents, observational. What the school run teaches is my reasoning.
Chapter 21. Gollwitzer and Sheeran, "Implementation intentions and goal achievement: a meta-analysis of effects and processes", Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 38, 2006, pages 69 to 119. The rule hasn't been tested as a package, and what I say to expect is my expectation and not a finding.
Chapter 22. The NHS pages "Walking for health" and the adult guidelines as above, for joints, gradual increase and pool classes. The chest pain guidance as above.