10,000 steps?

10,000 Steps?

With more & more of us using smartwatches or fitness trackers, we all have heard we should take 10,000 steps a day for better health - and as all the gyms and health clubs are closed at the moment, walking is a really accessible form of exercise .

But why 10,000 steps? What’s so special about that number?

It turns out that figure could be twice as high as it needs to be, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

It looked at more than 16,000 women and measured their average steps per day.  Women who averaged about 4,400 steps a day had much lower mortality rates – about 41 percent lower – than women who took 2,700 steps a day, the study said. “As more steps per day were done each day, mortality rates progressively decreased before levelling at approximately 7,500 steps per day.”

One of the study’s authors says that number might’ve come from a 1960’s Japanese pedometer with a name that means “10,000 steps.”

Whether 7,500 or 10,000 steps, it's best to take this as further encouragement to move your body daily. Walking is the simplest way to get your step count up; as a rough guide, walking a mile at an average pace works out at approximately 2000 steps.

Walking outside in nature gives you the added bonus of being great for mood, lowering stress and improving state of mind.

Walking isn’t the only way to increase your step count, for example; a 45 minute aerobic dance class could add between 3,500 to 5,500 steps! That would see you well on the way to reaching your steps target.

All studies agree that people who are stronger, have better cardiovascular health, and maintain balance are likely to live longer than people who are not healthy. One of the best medicines for prevention is, you guessed it, exercise!