2.3 Academic Research

Quantifying the Economic Value of Movement

What’s an active day (10,000 steps) really worth? In 2024, the SWEAT Foundation partnered with top researchers across Europe to find out.

• University of Birmingham (UK)

• University of Cádiz (Spain)

• Caledonian University of Glasgow (UK)

• Blockchain Research Lab (Germany)

Their goal: put hard numbers on the power of movement. The findings? Mind-blowing. A single active day—like hitting 10,000 steps—creates between $0.52 and $6.25 per person in economic value. That’s like getting paid to stay healthy.

The 10,000-step benchmark is rooted in decades of scientific research linking an active day of 10,000 steps to measurable health benefits like reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, and premature death. It’s become the gold standard for daily movement targets, used by many public health researchers worldwide.

Here’s the breakdown: governments could save up to $1.96 per person daily by slashing healthcare costs tied to sedentary lifestyles. Businesses? They’d pocket $4.38 per active employee through better focus and fewer sick days. And for you? Moving regularly could mean $2,280 a year in health benefits. These aren’t back-of-the-napkin estimates—they’re rigorous stats from heavyweights like the University of Birmingham, Caledonian University of Glasgow and the Blockchain Research Lab.

This is more than academic research, it’s the foundation of a new economy. $SWEAT takes these numbers and runs with them, rewarding you for the value you generate. Every step you take fights a global crisis costing trillions. That’s the Movement Economy—your activity, amplified into a force for change.

By bridging academic research with real-world application, the SWEAT Foundation is not only proving the economic power of movement, it is building the infrastructure to capture and distribute that value fairly.

This is the scientific foundation of the Movement Economy.