Walking 10,000 steps a day is one of the most common fitness goals in the world. But one walking expert argues that this lofty goal may not be necessary to enjoy many of the health benefits associated with a regular walk.
Several recent studies have attempted to identify the number of daily steps that provides optimal performance, and many of them have settled on a figure between 7,000 and 8,000 steps.
“It’s interesting to see how that number repeats itself in many of these studies,” says Dr. Elroy Aguiar, associate professor of exercise science at the University of Alabama, whose recent research focuses on measures of physical activity based on data. steps. “The figure is associated with lower risks of mortality, cancer and cardiovascular diseases.”
But that doesn’t mean walking 8,000 steps a day should be everyone’s goal: There are more nuances involved. Below we debunk the myth of 10,000 steps a day and explain how to set an individual daily step goal.
Why is 10,000 steps a day such a common goal?
If studies continue to come out that indicate 8,000 steps or more as a daily goal to achieve, where does the goal of 10,000 steps a day come from?
Its origins date back to a long-running marketing campaign for a Japanese pedometer in the 1960s, around the time of the Tokyo Olympics. The device was called manpo-kei, which translates as “10,000-step meter.”
“There is data that suggests that the Japanese population, like the American and probably the British, takes an average of between 5,000 and 6,000 steps a day,” explains Aguiar.
“Choosing 10,000 is a good goal because it is a little higher. If we took a 30-minute walk, we would probably take about 3,000 steps, so if we take our daily activity as a reference and add a planned exercise session, we will get closer to the goal of 10,000 steps.
The famous number has become a kind of gold standard for marking daily movement, and countless physical activity tracking devices set it as a default goal. It has even influenced research on the benefits of walking.
“Many studies have been done on whether 10,000 steps is better than less activity, and that has created an artificial confirmation bias,” argues Aguiar. “People think 10,000 is very popular. “It is a round, easy-to-remember number, and they have used it in their research studies as a point of comparison.”
How many steps do you have to walk a day?
We now know that walking about 8,000 steps a day is linked to a whole host of health benefits and, for many people, it’s probably a more reasonable goal.
Recent research from the University of Granada supports this new goal, and an article from the institution states that it provides “the first scientific proof of how many steps you need to take per day to significantly reduce the risk of premature death.” The figure was 8,000.
On the other hand, a 2023 meta-analysis published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology established a lower limit of 3,867 steps per day. Furthermore, he maintains that this figure is necessary to see a “significant” decrease in mortality from any cause.
What both investigations agree on is that there is no upper limit on the number of steps that can be taken to improve health. In other words, the more steps you take, the better, but there will be a point at which the benefits diminish.
“If you want to obtain optimal benefits for the time invested, most of the gain has already been obtained if you walk 8,000 steps, and from that point there are marginal or incremental gains,” explains Dr. Aguiar.
“And in terms of meeting the World Health Organization (WHO) physical activity guidelines of about 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity, those figures translate to about 7,000 -8,000 steps a day. “It makes a lot of sense, and it fits pretty well with what the new studies show.”
However, despite this debunking of the 1970s goal, it doesn’t bother him that the 10,000 steps a day goal is so widespread.
“Many of the first studies adopted that message of 10,000 steps, and it is not bad: they will always recommend taking more steps instead of taking fewer,” says Dr. Aguiar. “But if you want precision with what science shows, less than that is adequate.”
How to set a daily step goal
Finding an exercise routine is a very individualized task. In many cases, what works for one person will not work for another, so when adjusting your exercise routine, it is best to take a personalized approach.
The same can be said for a daily steps goal: a person who already walks a thousand steps a day will have a very different goal than an office worker who has difficulty moving even the slightest.
“We have to be aware that we have to set realistic objectives,” says Dr. Aguiar. “If someone takes 4,000 or 5,000 steps a day and you tell them to take 10,000, they are doubling their daily activity, which can be problematic and even demotivating.”
Instead, he recommends gradually increasing daily activity levels, with a view to progressing over time and eventually surpassing the 8,000 daily steps mark. Fitness trackers and smartwatches can help in this regard.
“Many modern wearable devices, such as Garmin and Google watches, analyze the current level of activity and try to increase it by a certain percentage,” details Dr. Aguiar. “So instead of setting an arbitrary goal, like 10,000, the device can record that you take 5,000 steps a day and then can suggest that you take 10 to 20 percent more to improve the amount of exercise. what is done, as a gradual progression.”
“Generally speaking, if you improve your initial steps by about 2,000 a day, which for most people is 10 to 20 percent, that’s a sufficient amount of additional activity to improve health markers like blood pressure and body composition. But obviously we want people to progress over time to 7,000-8,000, and then ultimately to 10,000 or more, because that’s where we know the best benefits occur.”
So, in summary: if you already walk 10,000 steps or more a day, you may not need to increase this number. If you have the time and want to improve your conditioning, other, more intense forms of exercise may offer additional benefits. For example, running to increase aerobic capacity or strength training to build muscle and strengthen bone density.
But if you spend most of your day sitting at a desk and struggle to find time to move, walking can be an affordable way to increase your activity levels and counteract this sedentary lifestyle.
It is recommended to start by tracking your daily steps for seven days and then add 10-20% to this number to determine your goal for the following week. The goal can be achieved by parking your car a little further from the office, getting off the bus or subway one stop earlier, or going to a cafeteria at lunchtime instead of eating at your desk.
By slowly increasing this goal over time until you reach the ideal level of 8,000 steps a day or more, you will achieve a ton of health benefits.
Translation of Michelle Padilla