SCIENTISTS BUST MYTH THAT 10,000 STEPS ARE REQUIRED FOR GOOD HEALTH / THE FINANCIAL TIMES

Scientists bust myth that 10,000 steps are required for good health

Hitting lower target of 7,000 steps a day will deliver big health boost, study says

Michael Peel in London

Overall mortality for people walking 7,000 steps was 47 per cent lower than for those who walked only 2,000 © De Agostini via Getty Images

The 10,000 steps a day walking target that originated as a 1960s marketing slogan and has become received wisdom is unscientific, according to new research suggesting thousands fewer could still yield big health rewards.

Scientists found the widely used goal was not necessarily the gold standard, as all-cause mortality fell by almost half for a 7,000-step walker compared with someone who completed just 2,000.

The 10,000 number, dreamt up by Japanese company Yamasa to sell pedometers around the time of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, has become a popular physical activity aspiration as smartphone step counters have proliferated.

“The pedometer brand definitely marketed well,” said Ding Ding, lead author of the study published in The Lancet Public Health on Wednesday. 

“I think it has great public health benefits — 10,000 is a nice round number, so it is suitable for goal setting — despite not being evidence-based.”

The researchers analysed data from more than 160,000 adults to look at how risks of serious health problems varied with the numbers of steps taken daily. 

The work, drawing on dozens of previous studies, is a landmark look at the impact of movement targets including the celebrated 10,000 goal on a wide range of conditions.

Overall mortality for people walking 7,000 steps was 47 per cent lower than for those who walked only 2,000. 

Risks for those who did 7,000 steps fell for health problems including death from cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as incidence of type 2 diabetes and dementia.

The gains from moving even more were less pronounced, with the death rate 48 per cent lower for those who notched 10,000 steps compared with 2,000.  

Ding pointed out that 10,000 steps was still associated with better outcomes than 7,000 for some health conditions, such as a 14 per cent further reduction in the risk of depressive symptoms.

“I am clearly not recommending folks who are doing 10,000 steps a day to go back to 7,000,” said Ding, a professor of public health at the University of Sydney.

“However, beyond around 7,000 steps, the additional health gain for each additional 1,000 steps start to become smaller, so there is less ‘return on investment’.”

The study was “an important addition to the literature which helps to debunk the myth that 10,000 steps per day should be the target for optimal health”, said Daniel Bailey, a reader in sedentary behaviour and health at Brunel University of London.

“To achieve the best reductions in risk, aiming for 5,000 to 7,000 per day can be recommended, which will be more achievable for many people than the unofficial target of 10,000 steps that has been around for many years,” he said.  

A nuance of the study was that the benefits of moving higher than 10,000 steps were notable: at 12,000, overall mortality was 55 per cent lower than for 2,000. 

It suggests that Yamasa, a pioneer in the promotion of fitness wearables, was on to something with its exhortation to aim high.

The study shows that the specific target “should not receive too much reverence”, said Andrew Scott, senior lecturer in clinical exercise physiology at Portsmouth university.

“It demonstrates that overall more is always better and people should not focus too much on the numbers, particularly on days where activity is limited”, Scott said. 

“It just means that 10,000 steps per day is not the only number to aim for, enhancing achievability.”