You’ve probably heard that hitting 10 000 steps a day is the key to health and longevity. But where did this number come from?
Believe it or not, the infamous 10 000 steps a day recommendation is not scientific. It came from a Japanese pedometer, the manpo-kei, which translates to “10 000-step meter”.
The pedometer went on sale just after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, at a time when there was a growing worry people in Japan weren’t moving enough.
The number was mainly chosen because it was catchy and easy to remember. So 10 000 was a slogan to sell a step-counter, not an evidence-based recommendation.
A recently published systematic review combined the results of 57 studies and more than 160 000 adults to examine the relationship between daily steps and health.
They found that reaching 7 000 steps a day was linked to a 47% lower risk of dying early, a 25% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, a 14% lower risk of type 2 diabetes, a 38% lower risk of dementia, a 22% lower depression and a 28% lower risk of falls.
Some health benefits started well before 7 000 steps
The researchers found going from about 2 000 to 4 000 steps a day makes a real difference.
The health benefits increase again slightly from 4 000 to 7 000 steps a day, after which the benefits start to plateau.
Why walking is good for you
Walking is a form of “aerobic” exercise. It raises your heart rate and places stress on your respiratory, muscular and cardiovascular systems.
If you do it regularly, it can improve your heart and metabolic health and reduce your body weight.
Walking can also reduce stress and improve mental health, possibly due to improvements in feelings of self-esteem and self-efficacy that come with regular movement.
There is some additional nuance that needs to be considered when discussing how far you walk each day: how hard you walk. If you pick up the pace and move towards a vigorous exercise intensity (where it’s hard to maintain a conversation), you will get larger health benefits in less time. This is why official exercise guidelines treat 75 minutes of vigorous activity as roughly equal to 150 minutes of moderate activity.
Recent research suggests short bursts of high-intensity exercise spread across the day can have health benefits.
Walking, however, doesn’t really address the “anaerobic” side. Anaerobic fitness refers to your muscle mass, muscle strength and power, which is linked to having a better quality of life and lower risk of mortality as you get older.
This is why most health authorities recommend muscle-strengthening activities (such as lifting weights) at least twice a week. — This article first appeared in The Conversation.
- The recommendation to walk 10,000 steps a day originated from a Japanese pedometer named manpo-kei, which means "10,000-step meter," and was mainly chosen because it was catchy and easy to remember, not based on scientific evidence.
- A systematic review of 57 studies with over 160,000 adults found that 7,000 steps a day is linked to significant reductions in risks of early death, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, depression, and falls.
- Health benefits from walking start at about 2,000 to 4,000 steps per day, increase moderately up to 7,000 steps, and then plateau beyond that point.
- Walking is aerobic exercise that improves heart, respiratory, muscular, and metabolic health, also reducing stress and improving mental health through enhanced self-esteem and self-efficacy.
- Vigorous intensity walking and muscle-strengthening activities twice a week provide additional health benefits, with muscle-strengthening addressing anaerobic fitness linked to quality of life and lower mortality risk.
