It is no secret that we live in a society of trends, where people often follow lifestyles or practices without conducting their research. Walking for a minimum of 10, 000 steps a day is the recommendation of some fitness tracking apps for an adult to be considered active, which has consequently become the standard that many health and fitness fanatics adhere to.
According to multiple sources, the 10,000 daily step goal was coined by a Japanese pedometer company during a marketing campaign and has since stuck globally.
Although it is effective for weight loss, walking is considered a form of low-impact exercise to improve or maintain one’s overall health. According to health publication Medical News Today, walking daily can improve the following:
- muscle strength
- range of motion
- blood flow
- flexibility
- balance, which can help prevent falls
- joint stiffness
- mood and sleep
- breathing
According to Healthline, the number of steps one should aim for is dependent on their intended goals. “While there are certainly benefits to walking more, 10,000 steps per day isn’t a magic number. But it might be a reasonable goal. The evidence to date is only observational, and it’s a bit conflicting,” says GoodRx Health.
Holland & Barret claim that one’s age highly influences the amount of walking they should or already are taking, they also believe that the younger one is, the more steps they’re more likely to do. “10,000 steps is still a good figure to aim for, however, if your step count is closer to 6,000, that’s okay, too. Like we said, it’s all individual,” the publication states.
For those who already are into walking but looking to improve their fitness, MayoClinic suggests establishing a baseline first and then looking to build on from there.
“It’s a good idea to find out how many steps a day you walk now, as your baseline. Then you can work toward the goal of 10,000 steps by aiming to add 1,000 extra steps a day every two weeks. If you’re already walking more than 10,000 steps a day, or if you’re fairly active and trying to lose weight, you’ll probably want to set your daily step goal higher.”
