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Since the dawn of our Fitbit culture, following the milestones, we have been programmed to strive to cross the bar of 10,000 steps a day and feel guilty if we do not reach that daily goal.
But a new study from Harvard Medical School says that less can be more when it comes to walking.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine, indicates that only half of this figure of 10,000 is associated with a decreased risk of premature death among older women.
And the benefits could even disappear after about 7,500 steps, making these 2,500 extra steps unnecessary.
"It does not take much to make mortality rates go down," says co-author I-Min Lee, an epidemiologist with the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, The Post. "People are hanging at 10,000. They are diligently trying to get that number because it's conventional wisdom, but it's fun to question conventional wisdom. "
The study followed 16,741 women aged 62 to 101 for four years. Women wore trackers to measure step count and speed during their daily activities for at least seven consecutive days. (They did not wear trackers during their sleep or water activities.) Throughout the study, they reported to researchers on their lifestyle, diet, and medical history. Of this group, 504 women died during the four-year period.
The researchers found that women who followed an average of 4,400 steps a day had a significantly lower mortality rate than women who only had about half the daily pace. The most active group – those who reached 7,500 or more – had a reduced mortality rate, but no additional benefits were achieved with the 10,000 mark.
"For people who do nothing at all, the goal is modest," Lee says. "Even if you do 2,000 more steps, you will live longer if you go further. People who want to do more are better, but the advantage seems to be stabilizing at 7,500. "
Perhaps the most shocking delicacy that motivated her research was at the origin of the 10,000-step prescription per day.
Lee learned that this little wisdom did not come from a science lab of exercise. This figure was rather derived from a Japanese marketing campaign of the 1960s, haunting the first incarnation of the pedometer.
The device, invented before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics to promote movement, was called "manpo-kei". In Japanese, "man" means 10,000 points, "po" means steps and "kei", meter. Together, it was the 10,000 step counter. The campaign has solidified what we now see as a fitness gospel.
Since the study focused only on mortality and not quality of life, much remains to be done. Even then, Lee does not discourage anyone from doing more with his sneakers.
"I think it's encouraging to be able to achieve significant health benefits in fewer steps," says Lee. "But if you do 10,000 steps, you will have more power."
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