10,000 steps a day: a necessary norm or a marketing ploy

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Researchers talk about a personalized approach to physical activity and its relationship to health.

Many people repeat the advice without thinking about where they came from. “You need to drink eight glasses of water a day,” “Breakfast is the main meal,” “2,000 calories a day is the norm,” such statements have become commonplace truths. It seems that if you follow them, then you are a healthy person.

In the last decade, with the proliferation of pedometers and fitness bracelets, a new requirement has emerged: you must walk at least 10,000 steps a day. This is an average of about eight kilometers. The origin of this figure is obscure, which did not stop tracker manufacturers from using it as a baseline.

Recently, however, research has emerged that questions the benefit of 10,000 steps.

Harvard University epidemiologist I-Min Lee wondered where this rule came from. “It turned out to be rooted in marketing strategy,” she said. "In 1965, a Japanese pedometer company named its product" 10,000 steps."

This name was chosen because the hieroglyph for the number 10,000 looks a bit like a walking man. As far as Ai-Ming Li found out, the campaign creators did not test the health benefits of this figure.

Since then, this finding of marketers has spread around the world in the form of a universal rule. And Li decided to check how reliable it was. Her study involved 16,000 older women. During the week, they measured the number of steps taken per day. Four years later, scientists estimated the mortality rate in different groups.

“Those who walked 4,400 steps a day had significantly lower mortality rates than less active women with about 2,700 steps,” says Lee. And the more the participants passed, the lower this level was among them. But this continued only up to the mark of 7,500 steps. After her, the mortality rate did not change, regardless of the steps taken.

It turns out that even an additional 2,000 steps per day (this is about 1.5 km) have a positive effect on health.

This clarification means a lot for those who want to be more active, but do not know why, or doubt their abilities.

“I don’t think 10,000 steps is a good approach to physical activity,” says Lindsay Wilson, a geriatrician at the University of North Carolina. - For some, walking is not suitable. Someone lives in an unsafe area or feels insecure on the sidewalk. You need to be more creative when you advise something to a person. Maybe it would be better for him to go to fitness or to the pool, or start exercising on a stationary bike."

This approach is especially important for older people, but generally works for any age. Even a small increase in physical activity is good for both the body and the psyche. But an overstated bar can completely discourage the desire to move.

Human health is too complex a phenomenon to be reduced to a couple of numbers.

Why are health myths so popular? "People want unambiguous results and advice," says Virginia Chang, a sociologist at New York University. “They want to know what to do. But that's not how scientific research works. They contain formulations that do not translate well into “human” language."

Of course, not all common knowledge about health is misconceptions. For example, it has been proven many times. It's just that those who want to improve their health need to remember: even small changes in diet and amount of activity help. Even if at the same time you do not reach the popular bar.

Technology advances, fitness trackers are becoming more affordable and more accurate. In the future, they will help scientists understand how physical activity is related to health. At the moment, it is difficult to establish a causal relationship.

Perhaps the study participants Ai-Ming Li became healthier because they walked more. Or maybe they took more steps because they were initially healthier. In any case, we see that regular, moderate physical activity is associated with health and longevity.

If you can walk 10,000 steps a day, great. But if you are sedentary due to age or other reasons, even a slight increase in activity will be beneficial for you.