10,000 Steps?
Did you complete your daily step goal? In today’s world, tracking our steps is done without much thought. Your watch or phone can easily track how much you move each day by tracking your steps. Have you ever stopped to wonder why 10,000 steps, is 10,000 steps enough, or what the benefits are of hitting that many steps?
On average most people take 4,000-6,000 steps a day from their daily routine (Tudor-Locke & Bassett, 2004). This is now even lower due to COVID causing more people to be quarantined, working from home, not working out, and commuting less. This has led us as society be even more sedentary (Martinez-Ferran et al., 2020).
But where did the magic 10,000 step goal came from? 10,000 steps can be traced back to Japanese walking groups and business campaigns (Tudor-Locke & Bassett, 2004). There was no exact science that found 10,000 steps is the magic cure for everything. Recent research found there to be a significant decrease in overall mortality from hitting 8,000 steps a day compared to 4,000 steps a day. Beyond 8,000 steps there are still benefits, they just are not as drastic (Saint-Maurice et al., 2020). This doesn’t mean that if you hit 8,000 steps you are healthy and can stop moving. But it does mean that there is significant improvement in longevity when you hit 8,000 steps. Think of this as a healthy minimum and more steps means being more active, which overall can improve health.
Here are some possible benefits of taking more steps:
Makes one more physically active which can help reduce risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity (Rieck, 2020).
Help improve overall fitness levels and could be used to help lose weight. (Note that weight loss is from being in a calorie deficit).
Improves mental health such as stress, anxiety, depression etc. (Hallam, Bilsborough, & Courten, 2018). Also helps to improve mood.
There are many benefits to having a 10,000-step goal. For a lot of people, it helps to get them moving around more. When we move around more, we are sedentary less. In a world with the obesity pandemic we have this is always a good thing. However, 10,000 steps is a very generic goal. It is not personalized to the person. For a person who struggles to get 4,000 steps in a day this goal might be too lofty. Starting smaller and slowly working their way up can be better and more realistic. For someone who is walking a lot during their day at work and hits well over 10,000 steps they could set the goal higher, or try setting other exercise type goals. There are also instances where someone is highly active but it does not show in steps. Example being someone who maybe bikes to and from work and does a high intensity workout in one spot. These are very active people who are getting lots of exercise but are not taking as many steps. So, it is important to look at the whole picture and ask yourself, are you moving your body on a regular basis? And if not, how do you plan to rectify that.
Here are a few ideas on how to easily increase your step count/physical activity:
Exercise/workout! Health guidelines recommend 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity a week. Along with trying to do resistance training 2-3 times a week. So, go move your body with intention and have some fun.
Go for a walk outside, maybe walk the dog, meet up with a friend, enjoy the sunshine on your face.
Set a reminder on your phone or watch to get up and move every hour during work. It is easy to get in the zone during work and forget to move.
Walk around while on that business call. They can’t see you, so why not get some movement in while working?
Park the car farther from the entrance when going places.
Join a step challenge with a friend or colleague. Accountability helps make things easier to stick to, as does a little friendly competition.
Happy moving!
References
Hallam, K.T., Bilsborough, S. & de Courten, M., (2018). “Happy feet”: evaluating the benefits of a 100-day 10,000 step challenge on mental health and wellbeing. BMC Psychiatry 18, 19.
Martinez-Ferran, M., Guía-Galipienso, F., Sanchis-Gomar, F., & Pareja-Galeano, H. (2020). Metabolic Impacts of Confinement during the COVID-19 Pandemic Due to Modified Diet and Physical Activity Habits. Nutrients, 12(6), 1549.
Rieck, T., (2020). 10,000 steps a day: Too low? Too high? Retrieved December 15, 2020, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/10000-steps/art-20317391
Saint-Maurice, P. F., Troiano, R. P., Bassett, D. R., Jr, Graubard, B. I., Carlson, S. A., Shiroma, E. J., Fulton, J. E., & Matthews, C. E. (2020). Association of Daily Step Count and Step Intensity With Mortality Among US Adults. JAMA, 323(12), 1151–1160. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.1382
Tudor-Locke, C., & Bassett, D. R. (2004). How Many Steps/Day Are Enough? Sports Medicine, 34(1), 1-8.