Smartwatches or personal health monitoring devices often remind us to walk 10,000 steps a day, from which many people believe that this is based on science.
In fact, this is a random coincidence maintained through history rather than research.
Dr. I-Min Lee - Professor of Epidemiology from Havard University (Boston, USA) said that walking 10,000 steps a day became popular in Japan in the 1960s before spreading worldwide.
Accordingly, a watch manufacturer with the hope of taking advantage of people's interest in physical exercise after the Tokyo 1964 Olympics took place has launched a breakthrough product. The device has the ability to count steps, named after Japanese characters associated with the image of a man walking, and can count 10,000 steps a day. Since then, this device has created a walking target for decades, to the point that it has been deeply imprinted in the subconscious of each person.
However, modern studies have shown that humans do not need to walk 10,000 steps a day (equivalent to 5 miles or 8km) to improve and improve health. In 2019, Dr. Lee and his colleagues found that women in their 70s who walked at least 4,400 steps a day had a risk of death of about 40% compared to women who walked 2,700 steps or less a day. The risk of premature death continues to decrease in women who walk more than 5,000 steps a day, but the benefit remains around 7,500 steps a day. In other words, older women who have completed less than half of the 10,000 steps are still living longer than normal.
A study conducted last year on 5,000 people of both men and women of different ethnic groups also showed that 10,000 steps a day are not a requirement to increase health and longevity. People who walk about 4,000 steps a day are half as likely to die early from heart disease or any other cause as people who walk less than that number.
The 10,000 step mark per day alone has no improvement compared to 7,500 or 8,000 steps. In addition, very few of us achieve the goal of 10,000 steps/day. According to recent estimates, most adults in the US, Canada and other Western countries average less than 5,000 steps a day. However, walking 1 or 2,000 steps more than your daily exercise routine is a reasonable goal that everyone can achieve. Official US physical activity guidelines recommend that we exercise at least 150 minutes a week or 30 minutes a day. If converted into steps, that time is equivalent to 16,000 steps per week, or about 2,000 to 3,000 steps per day.
Dr. Lee shares that work and daily activities make each person move about 5,000 steps per day on average, if we practice 2,000 to 3,000 more steps, it will help us reach 7,000 to 8,000 steps a day, an ideal number.
