Medscape
6 May 2022
The idea of taking 10,000 steps a day started as a catchy marketing slogan in 1965 when the Japanese company, Yamasa Tokei began selling a new step-counter which they called manpo-kei (ten-thousand steps meter). This became a mantra for anyone promoting physical activity. But the 10,000-step target is arbitrary and ignores a fundamental truth of lifestyle medicine: When it comes to physical activity, anything is better than nothing.
Most people will take somewhere between 5000 and 7500 steps a day even if they lead largely sedentary lives. If you add 30 minutes of walking to your daily routine, that will account for an extra 3000-4000 steps and bring you close to that 10,000-step threshold.
Research has shown that improving your step count is probably more important than achieving any specific threshold.
The reality is that walking 10,000 steps a day is a laudable goal and is almost certainly beneficial. But even lower levels of physical activity have benefits. The trick is not so much to aim for some theoretical ideal but to improve upon your current baseline.
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