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Walking 10,000 steps a day is one of the most popular fitness goals in the world. But walking experts say such lofty goals may not be necessary to reap many of the health benefits associated with regular walks.
Several recent studies have attempted to identify the number of daily steps that provide optimal cost-effectiveness, and many have settled on numbers in the 7,000 to 8,000 range.
“It’s interesting how this number is repeated in many of these studies,” he says Dr. Elroy AguiarAssistant Professor of Exercise Science University of Alabama His recent research focuses on step-based measurements of physical activity. “This number is associated with reduced risk of mortality, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.”
But that doesn’t mean walking 8,000 steps a day should be everyone’s goal. There’s more nuance to this than that. Below, we debunk the 10,000-step-a-day myth and explain how to set a daily step goal that’s right for you.
Why is 10,000 steps a day such a popular goal?
If 8,000 steps or so is a worthwhile daily goal to reach even with all the studying, where did the 10,000 steps a day goal come from?
Its origins lie in a persistent marketing campaign for Japanese pedometers in the 1960s, around the time of the Tokyo Olympics. That machine was called Manpo typewhich translates to “10,000 step meters.”
“There is evidence to suggest that Japanese people walk an average of about 5,000 to 6,000 steps a day, similar to the United States and perhaps the United Kingdom,” Dr. Aguiar says.
“Choosing 10,000 is a great goal because it’s a little higher. If you go for a 30-minute walk, you’ll probably get about 3,000 steps. So if you add one planned exercise to your daily baseline activity, You’ll get closer to your 10,000 step goal.”
Since then, this number has become something of a gold standard for tracking daily exercise, with countless fitness trackers setting it as their default goal. It has also influenced research into the benefits of walking.
“There are a lot of studies looking at whether 10,000 steps are better than less exercise, but that creates an artificial confirmation bias,” Dr. Aguiar explains. “People think 10,000 is very onerous. It’s a round number and easy to remember, so we use it as a comparison in our research.”
How many steps should I walk in a day?
We now know that walking around 8,000 steps a day is associated with a variety of health benefits, and for many people, it’s probably a more reasonable goal.
According to recent research, University of Granada The organization’s paper claims to have “the first scientific proof of how many steps you need to take per day to significantly reduce your risk of premature death.” The number was 8,000.
On the other hand, a meta-analysis in 2023 shows that European Journal of Preventive Cardiology set a lower limit of 3,867 steps per day, arguing that this number was needed to see a “substantial” reduction in all-cause mortality.
What both studies agree on is that there is no upper limit to the number of steps that can be taken to improve these health outcomes. In other words, the more steps you take, the better, but there is a point of diminishing returns.
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“If you want to get the best return for your time spent, if you run it 8,000 times, you’ve already got most of the profit. Beyond this point, you get marginal or incremental profit,” Aguiar says. The doctor explains.
“And in terms of fulfilling world health organization The (WHO) physical activity guidelines suggest that, assuming approximately 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week, these numbers equate to approximately 7,000 to 8,000 steps per day. Masu. That makes a lot of sense and aligns very well with what new research is showing. ”
But he doesn’t mind the fact that the 10,000-step-a-day goal is extremely popular, even though this ’70s goal has been debunked.
“Many of the early studies adopted the 10,000 steps message, and that’s not a bad thing; it’s always better to take more steps than less,” says Dr. Aguiar. “But if you want to know exactly what the science shows, less is more than enough.”
How to set a daily step goal
Finding a fitness routine that works for you is a very personal endeavor. Often, what works for one person does not necessarily work for another. So if you want to fine-tune your exercise habits, a customized approach is your best bet.
The same goes for your daily step goal. If you’re already walking thousands of steps a day, you’re going to set very different goals than a desk worker who doesn’t like to move much.
“One of the things we need to be conscious of is setting realistic goals,” says Dr. Aguiar. “If you tell someone who walks 4,000 or 5,000 steps a day to take 10,000 steps, that’s doubling their daily activity, which can cause problems and demotivation. may be lost.”
Instead, it instructs you to gradually increase your daily activity level, with the goal of progressing this over time and eventually exceeding 8,000 steps per day. Fitness trackers and smartwatches can help with this.
“Many modern wearable devices, such as Garmin and Google Watch, look at your current activity level and try to increase your activity by a certain percentage,” says Dr. Aguiar. “So instead of setting an arbitrary goal like 10,000 steps, the device will track that you’re taking 5,000 steps a day and then encourage you to take 10-20% more steps to improve your fitness. ” Make gradual progress. ”
“Generally speaking, improving your baseline step count by about 2,000 steps per day, which equates to 10 to 20 percent for most people, can improve health indicators such as blood pressure and body composition. But obviously we want people to eventually grow to 7,000 to 8,000 years old, and eventually 10,000 years old or more. Because we know you’ll get the most benefit.”
In summary, if you’re already walking more than 10,000 steps a day, you may not need to increase this number. If you have the time and want to further increase your fitness, doing other, more intense exercises may provide bonus benefits. For example, you might run to increase your aerobic capacity or do strength training to build muscle and increase bone density.
But if you spend most of your day sitting at a desk and finding time to get some physical activity, walking can be an easy way to increase your activity levels and combat this sedentary lifestyle. There is.
Start by tracking your daily steps for 7 days and add 10-20% to that to find your goal for the next week. You can increase this number of steps by parking a little farther from the office, getting off the bus or train one stop earlier, or heading to a cafe at lunch instead of eating at your desk.
Slowly increase this goal over time until you reach the Goldilocks spot of 8,000+ steps per day, and have fun while reaping the many health benefits along the way.
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