Fitness enthusiasts generally agree that if you want to stay healthy, you should take around 10,000 steps a day. Is that true?
People around the world have accordingly adjusted their daily steps on fitness trackers to this number. Fitness-based scientific studies have also been conducted to verify the validity of the claim that walking 10,000 steps ensures good health. How did this belief come about? Is there any truth behind it, or is it just a myth?
Manpo-Kei
When Japan was preparing to host the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the Japanese population paid more attention to fitness. Awareness has begun to spread that regular exercise is a good way to combat lifestyle diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and stroke. It was also the best way to fight obesity, which quickly became an "epidemic". The simplest exercise was walking - anyone could do it, it didn't require special equipment, and it didn't require any training or equipment.
The modern pedometer was introduced to the Japanese market around the same time as this new trend. It was a simple gadget that you wore around your waist and counted the number of steps you took. This gave the individual a good idea of the distance covered. This was fortunate for the health-conscious crowd who wanted to stay fit and used walking or jogging as their primary means of exercise. Needless to say, the widget quickly sold out as people tracked it and started sharing their daily steps with each other.
Manpo-kei, which literally means 10,000 steps in Japanese, has become the slogan of these dedicated walkers. Many Japanese foot clubs were established and Manpo-kei was the minimum that was expected of them. Gradually, the concept of walking 10,000 steps from the Japanese public became the goal of health-conscious walkers worldwide. Today, most fitness experts use Manpo-kei as the core fitness goal of a regular exercise program.
Ghent University's 10,000 steps study
The Department of Movement and Sports Science at the University of Ghent, Belgium, conducted a study on the validity of increased physical activity, which helps to improve an individual's overall health. The study was conducted in coordination with the School of Human Movement Studies at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. The purpose of the study was to determine whether 10,000 steps per day really contribute to the participant's health.
In 2005-2006, approximately 866 participants completed the 10,000-step-a-day fitness plan. The researchers monitored their progress with pedometers, physical activity questionnaires, an activity diary and a questionnaire related to the awareness of the project. There were people seeking to improve their overall well-being, while others were at risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis.
The intervention was highly successful for participants who were able to complete the 10,000 steps per day challenge. Almost half of the participants successfully completed the challenge. They felt they had better health and general well-being. However, when a follow-up study was conducted four years later, they found that the positive effect was not sustained.
Only half of the original participants were available for the follow-up study. Among them, a significant decrease in the number of steps was observed. Part of this can be attributed to aging, but most participants reported a steep decline in physical activity with each subsequent year. Lack of socio-ecological interventions, such as a sense of community and general public awareness of the study, reduced participant motivation. Although the study proved that taking 10,000 steps is beneficial, the fact is that exercise only helps if it becomes a regular habit.
Set fitness goals today
Every person benefits from regular exercise. 10,000 steps or Manpo-kei is not a hard and specific requirement. Anyone who regularly takes 6,000 steps a day also stays healthy. It is important to set a fitness goal that meets the needs of the individual. One that the individual commits to and stays motivated to fulfill. Even a person who takes 4,000 steps a day stays healthy, but he does it every day.
Studies supporting the 10,000 step requirement used waist-worn pedometers, while most new fitness trackers are now wrist-worn. This means that the sensors could pick up a lot of extra movements from everyday life that are not related to steps. For example, household chores such as sweeping the floor or washing the dishes boost the daily step count and distort the result. This factor should be taken into account when setting fitness goals.