Walking is one of the most popular and beneficial forms of exercise. A brisk walk can improve cardiovascular health, encourage weight loss, and strengthen muscles and bones.

10,000 steps per day is a daily step count recommendation that is routinely passed around fitness and wellness circles. But do you really need 10,000 steps a day to walk your way to well-being? This article will explore the myths and facts behind 10,000 steps as a magic number for health, including where this figure came from in the first place.

The truth behind 10,000 steps a day

The concept behind ten-thousand being the magic number of steps to take a day originates back to the mid-1960s. A Japanese company called Yamasa Tokei Keiki came up with this number as a marketing strategy to sell a pedometer called the “Manpo-kei” (which translates to “10,000 step meter”) or the Manpo-meter.

There is no specific data or health care basis for 10,000 being the number that was used for these step counter devices. It was just a clean, easy-to-remember number that could be easily marketed to consumers in Japan. The “man” character even looks like someone walking: 万. The idea, however, that 10,000 steps was the key to good health stuck around.

How many steps to take a day

Ten thousand daily steps is a great fitness goal. A ten-thousand-step goal has been shown to yield significant health benefits, such as a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and diseases such as dementia and cancer. However, ten thousand steps roughly equate to five miles of walking. Not everyone is physically capable of that much walking, nor does everyone have that much time to dedicate to walking every day. It takes an average person about 20.6 minutes to walk a mile. That means it will take a little over 100 minutes, or an hour and fortyish minutes, to walk five miles. That’s a lot to try to knock out during the day.

So, how much do you actually need to walk to get the health benefits from it?

New studies have begun to show that ten thousand is not the magic number that the Yamasa clock makers marketed it to be.

A 2019 study of older women found that as few as 4,400 steps per day (a little over two miles) reduced the risk of premature death by about 40% compared to women who took 2,700 steps per day. The risk of death was reduced even more in women who walked more than 5,000 steps a day. However, the lower risk of death plateaued at about 7,500 steps per day—meaning that there was not a significant benefit to walking more than this for older women.

Similarly, a 2020 study found that people who walk 8,000 steps per day (about 3.5 miles) are about half as likely to die prematurely from heart disease or other conditions than those who walk only 4,000 steps per day.

In a comprehensive observational investigation, individuals who engaged in a mere 15 minutes of daily walking or accumulated 90 minutes of weekly walking experienced a noteworthy 14 percent decrease in mortality during an average monitoring period of 8.1 years, in contrast to their sedentary counterparts. Likewise, in a comparable study involving 2110 middle-aged male and female subjects, those who achieved a daily step count of 7000 or more demonstrated a remarkable 50 to 70 percent reduction in mortality over the 10.8-year observation period compared to those who took fewer than 7000 steps daily.

Another study, led by Amanda Paluch, assistant professor in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, found that instances of cardiovascular conditions like high blood pressure and heart disease decreased based on an individual’s activity level. So, 4,000 steps is better than 3,000, but 8,000 is better than 4,000. The takeaway is that you shouldn’t get wrapped up in a specific number; moving more is the most important thing.

For a basic recommendation, the National Institutes of Health says that anything below 4,000 steps per day is considered a low activity level. Taking 4,000 or more steps a day will yield some health benefits. These benefits compound as you move more, but some individuals should be careful before attempting to achieve 10,000 steps a day. Getting anywhere over 6,000 steps per day is enough for most people to yield significant health benefits while not overtaxing the body or schedule.

Daily step count precautions

Rapidly introducing an exercise regimen may be unsafe for older individuals, individuals with cardiovascular concerns like high blood pressure or heart disease, or individuals with obesity or weight-related health problems (like type 2 diabetes). That doesn’t mean that people in these populations shouldn’t exercise; rather, they should exhibit caution and discretion when starting a new fitness regime.

Talk to a healthcare provider about your weight goals, medical history, and exercise history before starting a new workout routine (even if it’s just more walking). A quick check-in will help you get professional medical advice on the best guidelines for your physical condition. Additionally, seeking medical support for your new routine will help you reduce your risk of injury, cardiovascular events (like a heart attack), or any other negative side effects of increased physical activity.

Exercise recommendations

As detailed above, getting anywhere over 6,000 steps a day is enough to lower your risk of cardiovascular problems and all-cause mortality. Many people get at least 4,000 steps a day in going about their daily lives; walking around the house, running errands, and moving throughout their workspace.

In addition to this baseline of activity (4,000 steps is considered a low physical activity level), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides evidence-based guidelines for exercise. Federal guidelines stipulate that American adults get anywhere from 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week. Moderate-intensity exercise could be anything from brisk walking to fast dancing. These guidelines recommend adults do some muscle-building exercise 2 days a week. Muscle-building exercises could be lifting weights or engaging in body-weight strengthening movements (like pushups).

If you walk 6,000 steps or over per day, you’re well on your way to meeting these guidelines.

Getting started

If you live a mostly sedentary lifestyle (not much physical activity and sitting), talk to a healthcare provider before exercising too intensely. A guided workout plan can help you avoid burnout, injury, or worse.

Once you have a plan in place, you can use a fitness tracker (like an Apple Watch or Fitbit) or fitness tracker apps to help you track your progress. Many people find that fitness trackers help them stick to their goals. If nothing else, this technology will help to encourage you to move more and sit less.

Exercise has a massive impact on your physical and mental health, but locking yourself into a specific goal (like 10,000 steps a day) may be too ambitious or just too unsustainable. Any amount of exercise is a good amount of exercise, the point is that you’re doing it.

Sources:

• Inoue K, Tsugawa Y, Mayeda ER, Ritz B. (2023). Association of Daily Step Patterns With Mortality in US Adults. JAMA.
  
• Saint-Maurice PF, Troiano RP, Bassett DR, et al. (2020). Association of Daily Step Count and Step Intensity With - Mortality Among US Adults. JAMA.
• (2022). Recommendations. NIH.
  
• Guide to Physical Activity. NIH.
  
• Paluch AE, Gabriel KP, Fulton JE, Lewis CE, Schreiner PJ, Sternfeld B, Sidney S, Siddique J, Whitaker KM, Carnethon MR. (2021).Steps per Day and All-Cause Mortality in Middle-aged Adults in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study. JAMA.