BMJ

Sixty seconds on . . . 10,000 steps

March 14, 2024

Sixty seconds on . . . 10,000 steps

I thought that number was arbitrary

The widely used target of 10,000 steps a day does seem to originate from a successful Japanese marketing campaign in the mid-1960s. A company called Yamasa wanted to capitalize on the popularity of the Tokyo Olympics and designed the world’s first step counter, a device called a manpo-kei, which translates as “10,000 step meter.”

So, there was no real evidence?

Not at the time, no. Since then a number of studies have been conducted to test whether 10,000 steps a day is optimal for health, and organizations such as the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association have even adopted the number as a daily activity recommendation. However, there have also been accusations that the target is built on bad science.

Should I dig out my old step counter or not?

Well, maybe. New research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows that walking 9,000 to 10,000 steps a day lowered mortality risk by 39% and incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk by 21%.

Run those numbers by me

Australian researchers analyzed data on over 70,000 people enrolled in the UK Biobank study who had worn an accelerometer for seven days to measure their physical activity. Over an average of 6.9 years follow-up, 1,633 deaths and 690 CVD events occurred.

What if I don’t hit 10,000?

The good news is that the study suggests any number of steps above 2,200 a day is associated with lower mortality and incident CVD risk.

Best foot forward

While the researchers tried to account for other possible factors such as diet and smoking, with a large sample size and a long follow-up period to reduce the risk of bias, this was an observational study that can’t establish cause and effect. That said, with an NHS recommendation of at least 150 minutes’ moderate intensity activity a week for adults, trying to do a few more steps surely can’t hurt.

References:

Cox D. (2018, September 3). Guardian. Watch your step: why the 10,000 daily goal is built on bad science. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/sep/03/watch-your-step-why-the-10000-daily-goal-is-built-on-bad-science.

Ahmadi M, et al. (2024, March 5) Br J Sports Med. Mar 8;58(5):261-268. Do the associations of daily steps with mortality and incident cardiovascular disease differ by sedentary time levels? A device-based cohort study. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38442950/

(Reviewed 2021, August 4). NHS. Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64. https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/physical-activity-guidelines-for-adults-aged-19-to-64/

Source:

Wise, Jacqui. (2024, March 8). BMJ. 2024;384:q598. News. Sixty seconds on . . . 10,000 steps. https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj.q598