Who among us hasn’t heard of the magic recipe for walking these days, everyone who owns a smartwatch or a fitness tracker knows it Walk 10,000 steps a day is the perfect recipe for staying healthy.
This magical number of steps has been linked to a variety of health benefits, such as weight loss and a reduced risk of cancer, dementia, and heart disease.
But where does this number come from?
Maybe the truth might surprise you, it doesn’t seem to be related to any scientific study!
Tom Yates, professor of physical activity and behavior at the University of Leicester in the UK, explained that there is no scientific evidence for this, “according to the” Daily Mail “newspaper.
The origin of the story!
It seems the story began just before the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, as there was a lot of interest in fitness in Japan and many local companies tried to capitalize on the hype.
Yamasa has come up with a marketing ploy to sell a pedometer called Manpo-Kei, which literally translates to “10,000 meters of steps”.
Some believe the company chose this name simply because the Japanese character of 10,000, 万, looks similar to a walking man.
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1964 advertisement for the Manpo-Kei pedometer.
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There was no real reason behind the number other than the fact that it was a round, memorable and cute number.
Additionally, the company had no scientific evidence to back it up, it just wanted to sell its products and inadvertently influenced the fitness industry for years to come.
Do you need 10,000 steps ?!
Additionally, many studies have examined whether people really need to take 10,000 steps a day to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
However, until recently, studies have only been conducted on the effects of 5,000 steps, and 10,000 steps were never intermediate.
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Expressionism – Shutterstock
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Meanwhile, a major study released in March disproved the 10,000 step goal, suggesting that only 6,000-8,000 steps per day is enough, and anything beyond 8,000 steps doesn’t really count in terms of health benefits.
Speed is more important
Another recent study suggested that the speed at which a person walks may be more important than the number of steps.
Experts in Denmark and Australia conclude that 10,000 steps a day may not be necessary if you are walking fast.
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Expressionism – Shutterstock
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“Step counting is easily understood and widely used by the public to track activity levels thanks to the growing popularity of fitness trackers and apps,” said Emmanuel Stamatakis, professor at the University of Sydney and senior author. “But people rarely think about the pace of their steps,” he added.
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