The recommendation to walk 10,000 steps per day has been around for decades, and it's often used as a benchmark for a healthy lifestyle and a base setting in many fitness trackers. But where did this number come from, and how accurate is it really?
Truth be told, the goal of walking 10,000-steps per day started out purely as a marketing gimmick. In preparation for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, a Japanese company called Yamasa launched a pedometer called the ‘Manpo-kei’, which translates to "10,000-step meter" [1]. The company chose this name because they wanted to emphasize the importance of walking for overall health and well-being.
So, while the 10,000-step goal wasn't necessarily backed by science to begin with [2], recent findings have actually shown that walking is not only ‘good’ for your health, but that a daily step-goal of around 8,000–9,000 steps may be sufficient to reduce risk of many common health conditions [3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. A 2022 study showed that a higher daily step count can significantly reduce your chances of developing chronic diseases such as incident diabetes, hypertension, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), major depressive disorder (MDD) and a wide range of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular events [3], whilst another study that observed mortality over an average of 10.1 years, monitored step-counts over a 7-day period and found a 51% lower mortality at 8,000 steps per day compared with 4,000 steps per day [4].
Isn’t it fascinating – movement truly is medicine!
We can walk our way to better health and it's something that anyone can do, regardless of age or fitness level!
Make walking your new health-habit this fall and aim for 10,000 steps daily by joining our 10k-a-day Steps Challenge in support of the Autism Hope Alliance. Not only will you better your own health, you’ll also be making a difference in the lives of children living with Autism.
Register Here to join the challenge and win great prizes:
Happy walking, folks!