Photo by David Kanigan.

With the global fitness tracker market at $53 billion in 2023, expected to rise to $62 billion in 2024, and then projected to continue growing to $190 billion by 2032, it is definitely in the industry’s interest to keep pushing the 10,000 steps a day goal as a crucial benchmark for personal health and fitness.

Marketing vs. science

However, it might surprise those preoccupied with getting all those steps in that there is no scientific basis for the number 10,000 representing any kind of universal criterion of human fitness. The number’s association with steps toward health began as a marketing ploy for a 1960’s Japanese company selling an early version of the pedometer. The Japanese language character for 10,000 resembles a walking human and so the device was sold as Manpo-kei, the “10,000 Step-meter”.

Until recently, very little research has been done to determine what benefits an apparently arbitrary number of steps might convey, despite the two-decade trend toward owning devices or using apps on phones to achieve the approximately five-mile-per-day goal.

What does the research say?

10,000 steps would not be significantly better than 7,500.

Epidemiologist I-Min Lee of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard professor of Medicine conducted a study of nearly 17,000 older women, average age 72, over the course of four years to determine what effect their daily number of steps had on mortality and whether the intensity at which those steps were taken matters. Findings of the study, published in 2019 in the Journal of the American Medical Association conclude that sedentary women take an average of 2700 steps per day, and that those who instead averaged 4,400 steps per day reduced overall rates of mortality by 41%.

Furthermore, mortality rates continued to drop until the number of steps reached 7,500, at which point the trend levels off, so 10,000 steps would not be significantly better than 7,500. Dr. Lee says that because the number of steps delivered positive results regardless of the intensity at which they were taken, every step counts, and seniors can spread out their steps at a mild intensity throughout the day.

More studies on steps have been carried out since 2019 and show that energy expenditure is the factor most strongly correlated to decreased mortality rates. It is now believed that younger people may require more steps to see a benefit because up to age 60, steps require less energy than for those over 60.

Some members of the medical community caution against obsessing over numbers.

More recently, a Dutch study published in 2023 concluded that for all age groups, the most benefit that can be attributed to the number of steps reducing rates of mortality tops out at 7,126 steps per day, and that more steps, while doing no harm, do not produce greater benefit.

Some members of the medical community caution against obsessing over numbers when further research is needed to determine more nuanced effects of steps than lower mortality rates. What the effects are on metabolic and cardio-vascular disease, cancer, mental health, etc remain to be seen. People would do well to balance a fixation on a number with other factors of good health such as diet, rest, and stress-reduction.

Broader approaches to physical activity

In addition, many people unable to walk or for whom walking is problematic are left out in the cold by the focus on steps. Fortunately, the decades-old recommendations for physical activity that are based on time spent moving are still valid measures of health through movement and have a bigger body of evidence supporting more specific health outcomes beyond simple reduction in mortality.

Either 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week are standards everyone can work with regardless of number of steps. If cycling or swimming is your jam, you may not get in any more steps than going from the couch to the kitchen and back each day, but your cardio-vascular health might still be excellent.

Move it our lose it

The bottom line is, not surprisingly, move it or lose it. If worrying about your daily number of steps gives you anxiety, know that 10,000 is not backed by any scientific evidence, and that 3/4 of that will give you maximum benefit according to the most recent research. Strength-training, various forms of cardio exercise that may or may not include steps, and activities such as gardening, dance, and sports not only provide fitness and health gains, but also mental health and social benefits strongly linked to quality of life and longevity.

Ann Constantino, submitted on behalf of the SoHum Health’s Outreach department.