It Turns Out 10,000 Steps a Day Is Unnecessary!
Updated: Oct 28, 2022
The Research Supports Walking Less Is Still Beneficial!
If you are like me, your recall hearing from experts the magic number of 10,000 steps a day was highly recommended to stay healthy. As this title states, research was finally completed, and 10,000 steps was a dreamed-up number. As reported by the Jama Network Open in a study that recruited and followed participants who share common characteristics:
This cohort study found that among Black and White men and women in middle adulthood, participants who took approximately 7000 steps per day or more experienced lower mortality rates than participants taking fewer than 7000 steps a day.
The study says 7000 steps improve mortality rates over numbers even lower, which is to say more steps is better. It also states that walking more than 10,000 steps did not provide additional health benefits. Perhaps 10,000 steps just had a nice ring to it!
I, for one, will continue to walk every day based on time of exercise and possibly distance walked. The fact of the matter is any activity is better than none. The key to this article is not to stress the “made up” 10,000 step number!
Photo by Arek Adeoye on Unsplash