Last month, my workplace ran a team walking challenge inspired by Prostate Cancer UK’s March the Month campaign. The challenge: 11,000 steps a day.
That sparked more than a few arch comments about “step inflation” in our economically minded office, where most of us are more familiar with 10,000 as the magic number. The 11,000 steps actually represent the 11,000 men lost to prostate cancer annually, rather than any specific health guideline. That is a sobering statistic, but at least it gives a meaningful target. It does, however, raise another question: where did the 10,000-step idea come from?
In the 1960s, a Japanese company called Yamasa Tokei capitalised on the 1964 Tokyo Olympics by selling one of the world’s first commercial pedometers. They named it “Manpo-kei”, which literally means “10,000-step meter”.
Its slogan encouraged people to walk 10,000 steps a day; not for any scientific reason, but because it sounded like a good, solid, round number. In Japanese, man (万 – the kenji numeral is also said to look a person mid-stride) is used idiomatically for an abstractly large number, just as a million can be in English. Helpfully, 10,000 steps are slightly more attainable than a million.
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While the 10,000 figure began as a marketing gimmick rather than a medical benchmark, the idea stuck. It’s now the default setting on many fitness trackers and apps. The idea that we should get our 10,000 steps a day has permeated into popular culture.
Simple universal goals are easy to remember, which is why many health agencies have used 10,000 steps in their public health campaigns, even if that doesn’t mean that they have any medical basis. The number took on a life of its own because it’s motivating and memorable, not because it was the magic cut-off for good health.
[ Which is more important: the number of steps you take or how fast you walk?Opens in new window ]
So, do we need 10,000 steps a day to stay healthy? The concept may not have come from scientific study, but there has been plenty of research since.
In 2019, a major study of older women found that those walking about 4,400 steps a day had a 41 per cent lower risk of mortality compared with those walking only 2,700 steps. The benefits increased with more steps, but tended to level off at about 7,500 steps per day. In other words, going from 2,000-3,000 steps to about 7,000-8,000 gave a big health boost – but pushing beyond that saw diminishing returns, at least for older adults.
Other researchers have echoed this pattern across different age groups. People getting 6,000 to 8,000 steps a day consistently show better health outcomes than those doing fewer. For example, one study noted that people hitting about 8,000 steps a day were half as likely to die prematurely as those doing only 4,000 steps a day. That’s a huge improvement, achieved well below the 10,000 mark.
The overall message from recent studies is that even a modest goal such as 6,000-8,000 steps a day can significantly improve health outcomes. In fact, many of us already walk about 5,000 steps in the course of everyday life, adding 30 minutes of brisk walking can get us pretty close. This also lines up well with standard exercise recommendations for half an hour of moderate activity most days. It turns out that consistency and a moderate increase are more important for good health than an arbitrary milestone.
Just as we’re familiar with five-a-day for fruit and veg or eight glasses of water, 10,000 steps is a catchy rule of thumb. There are still some questions to ponder further: is the optimal goal different for a 20-year-old compared with a 70-year-old? Does step intensity and pace matter? The public conversation isn’t always tuned into those nuances. Health communicators often prefer a simple message that gets people moving, even if it glosses over the fine details.
But there’s no need to be dismissive of 10,000 steps either. If the idea gets you up and walking, it’s doing more good than harm. For many of us, it’s a motivating stretch target. If, on the other hand, you find that number intimidating, don’t be discouraged or give up on walking. Any increase in daily steps is beneficial. You can start with a goal of 5,000 or 7,000 and still substantially boost your health. In the end, consistency matters more than an exact number on your pedometer.
Stuart Mathieson is research manager with InterTradeIreland
