Take 1000 steps after dinner

One way to make evenings more pleasant

Morning is a great time for getting stuff done. If you exercise first thing it can boost your energy for the rest of the day.

But unfortunately, many of us have a tendency to do our workouts in the early morning and then not move much at all after that. This is especially true if we’re working from home and the commute from our home offices to the kitchen is about 20 steps. We eat dinner, supervise homework, do any kid bedtime routines, and then settle down in front of the TV. Over time, all this evening time seems to blend together. Was Tuesday different from Wednesday? Who even knows?

Weekday evenings are unlikely to be anyone’s peak energy time, but one simple change can help shake things up. Aim to walk at least 1000 steps after dinner. This really isn’t much. It’s half a mile, which might take 10 minutes or so. But by making this small habit tweak, you can reshape the evenings.

This happens in several ways. First, to log those steps, you might wind up going outside. That’s a great idea for those of us going into the spring, when the evenings are longer and lighter. Seeing the natural world can definitely be a treat if you’ve been in an office all day.

This habit can also produce more evening family time. If you have kids, you can get them out with you. An evening bike ride or scooter ride around the block will get everyone out and moving. Little ones can go in strollers. A teen or pre-teen might be willing to go for an individual walk with a parent, which can be a great way to score a little time together and maybe break up the homework a bit too.

Activity tends to produce its own energy. If you sit around doing nothing, it can feel hard to do anything. But if you get up and move, you will feel more energetic.

Now I’m not talking about running a full marathon after dinner. While evening exercise turns out not to have the negative sleep effects people once thought it did, I do know that the day has been long. And you may have run your marathon before breakfast! But a gentle stroll is easy enough. A few extra steps may be just the thing to make the entire evening more pleasant.