Moving 6,000 or more steps a day—no matter how—can add up to a healthier life for you. We already knew that exercise programs can cut the risk of diabetes, which is a risk for heart disease. But a new exercise study from Brazil published online in the NAMS medical journal Menopause shows that you don’t necessarily have to go out for sports. You can be active through your daily activities, such as work, chores, or leisure activities. As long as the women in this study took 6,000 or more daily steps, they were much less likely to be obese or have these other health risks than the inactive women. And it didn’t matter whether or not they were taking hormone therapy. For midlife women, the journey to fitness can start with 6,000 steps.