The Myth of the 10,000 Steps

Anyone who watches television, reads magazines or scrolls social media could reasonably assume that the key to health, happiness and longevity is taking 10,000 steps each day. It is typically what it takes to close the rings on your smartwatch and lets you check the box of a job well done on your to-do list.

Where did that 10,000 step-goal come from? Marketing, not medicine. In the 1960s, a Japanese company created a pedometer that they named Manpo-kei, which translates to “10,000 steps meter.” They marketed that device on the premise that 10,000 steps a day was the ideal number for health and wellness. Somehow, that idea spread and stuck.

Is it true? Is 10,000 daily steps the magic number? 

It doesn’t look that way. A researcher at Harvard Medical School undertook a study to answer this question: for older women, how many daily steps reduces the risk of death?

The study showed that mortality rates decreased substantially for women who took at least 4,400 steps a day and continued to decline for those who racked up 7,500 steps each day. But beyond that, mortality rates leveled off -- suggesting that there is little benefit -- at least for the sake of mortality -- between 7,500 and 10,000 daily steps. So if living longer is your goal, 7,500 steps each day should do it. Importantly, this study did not look at anything other than mortality rates -- it didn’t consider quality of life, mental acuity, joie de vive or anything else. Just your risk of death. But that’s a really good place to start, yes?