The 'trigger point' method, developed by Vitality's Habit Index, involves picking various 'bases' in your office — like the coffee machine, the printer, or the stationery cupboard — and using that as a prompt to walk around a bit. It's not about setting off on a 10 minute stroll every time you see the water cooler, but rather adding in a quick lap of the kitchen, for example.
How the method works
I picked the kettle as my base. So, every time I saw it, I did a loop around the office. If I wasn't particularly busy, I'd throw in a walk to a different floor in the building, and back up again. Effectively, I turned myself into a human version of Pac-Man.
When I started this experiment in the morning, my step count was around 3,000, but I was feeling lethargic. By lunchtime, I was surprised to see I'd got myself up to 4,000, just by putting in a bit of extra graft. On average, adults walk around 100 steps per minute, which means taking five minutes away equates to an extra 500 steps. If you do this routine four times, you can add an extra 2,000 steps.
Benefits for focus and productivity
While I'd previously struggled to get up from my desk for fear of destroying hyperfocus, this actually helped to reinforce it. By lunchtime, I felt more refreshed, more alert, and more productive. One 2026 study from Harvard University found that getting a few extra steps in can help improve focus, memory, and thinking skills.
If you're time poor, this trigger point technique is a great solution.
Health impact of walking
A 2026 study, conducted by the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences and published in The Lancet, estimates that walking for just five minutes per day could help reduce the risk of early death by 10% for most of the general population, while walking for 10 minutes could cut the risk by 15%. But this figure is different for the 'least active' people among us, as for them, a five-minute walk could reduce the risk by just 6%.
If you aren't able to get out and about for a brisk walk, simply getting up and moving about your home, doing housework, for instance, could also make a difference. The findings also claimed that reducing the amount of time you are sedentary by 30 minutes each day could help to prevent around 4.5% of deaths.
The 10,000-step myth
As for step counts, the world is hung up on reaching 10,000 per day, but this was actually a marketing technique. The Japanese character for 10,000 (which is 万) looks like someone going for a walk, so was chosen to advertise a pedometer. However, it's since been debunked as a gold standard that's a bit of a myth, as adults aged between 18 and 59 can generally aim for anywhere between 8,000 and 10,000.
