How many steps do we really need a day?
By Lizzie Streit, MS, RDN, LD
Getting 10,000 steps a day has become a goal for many people who try to stay active. Most smart watches and step counters automatically set 10,000 steps as the daily target, and many activity experts and health organizations repeat this advice.
But is 10,000 daily steps really the amount we need? Are there still benefits to getting fewer steps? Or does more activity lead to better results?
Read on to learn about the theories behind 10,000 steps per day and what amount you may actually need.
History of 10,000 Steps
It may come as a surprise that the recommendation to get 10,000 steps per day is arbitrary. While this advice may seem like it coincides with the recent popularity of smart watches, it actually dates back to the 1960s.
In 1965, a Japanese company begin selling a 10,000 steps counter, known as Manpo-kei, based on the belief that this number of daily steps reduces the risk of heart disease. At the time, there was a buzz surrounding health and fitness after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
The belief in getting 10,000 steps a day to stay healthy and reduce disease risk continues to dominate, but many studies have challenged this assumption.
The Best Number of Steps
As with most things related to nutrition and fitness, getting 10,000 steps per day does not appear to be one size fits all advice. Research suggests that many people benefit from fewer steps per day, so long as they take those steps every day.
A 2021 study in over 2,000 participants in middle adulthood found that the groups who took 7,000 or more steps and 10,000 or more steps per day had lower mortality rates than those who took fewer than 7,000 steps per day. But the group with 10,000 steps did not have better results than the 7,000 steps group. The intensity of activity that made up the steps also did not make a difference.
Another study in older woman (with a mean age of 72) concluded that as few as 4,400 steps per day was associated with lower mortality rates compared to 2,700 steps per day. Mortality rates continued to decline with more daily steps but leveled off at 7,500 steps per day. Like the aforementioned research, this study did not find an association between the intensity of steps and lower mortality rates.
Based on these results, getting 10,000 steps per day is not necessary to reap the health benefits of walking and movement. If you love to feel the vibrating celebration on your wrist when you hit your daily 10k, keep it up! But for those who are intimidated by this goal, rest assured you will still get benefits from fewer than 10,000 daily steps. Just try to make walking or other forms of exercise, coupled with a healthy meal plan, a daily habit.
Any type of walking counts towards your steps. If you want to increase your daily movement, try parking further away from your destination, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and doing some laps around the mall or grocery store before shopping.
Note from Healthy For Life Meals: While you take your steps, let us take care of meal prep for you! Get started with one of our 1200, 1500, or 2000-calories-per-day meal plans and start feeling healthy for life.