By Marzia Khan
Reviewed by Danielle Ellis, B.Sc.
Introduction
The ubiquitous concept of walking 10,000 steps a day originated in 1965 in the country of Japan. Dr. Yoshiro Hatano invented the pedometer, naming it “Manpo-kei,” which translates to “10,000-step meter.” One would think this figure originated from years of significant scientific research; however, it was actually an arbitrary number used to reflect an active lifestyle. As a result of this device, an advertisement campaign was designed, which furthered the awareness of this concept, something which has since become a global phenomenon.
While walking 10,000 steps a day starts with a weak foundation, this health goal does not necessarily have to be abandoned. However, the efficacy of this figure is dependent on how fit the person is. For example, walking 10,000 steps for an athlete may be a walk in the park without being physically challenging; for someone less active, this goal may be comparable to climbing Mount Everest.
The science behind 10,000 steps
Walking 10,000 steps in a day has been put to the test by scientists to explore if this ubiquitous fitness notion has any concrete evidence to support it. A study across India and Australia investigated the impact of walking 10,000 steps a day as part of a 100-day workplace-based step challenge.
The researchers assessed the impact of this fitness challenge on mental health and wellbeing, with hypotheses including benefits for depression, anxiety, and stress. Those who completed more than 10,000 steps per day throughout the assessment period were hypothesized to have a better mental state and wellbeing than those who did not reach the threshold.
In this study of 1,963 participants, the results concluded a small but consistent impact on all mental health measures throughout the challenge, irrespective of whether the person reached the 10,000-step goal. Engaging in the challenge was found to improve stress levels by 8.9%, depression symptoms by 7.6%, anxiety by 5%, and wellbeing by 2.1% from the baseline.
The researchers concluded there was little evidence from their study that suggests reaching 10,000 steps was a magical number for mental health and wellbeing. However, health-promoting activities holistically have the potential to improve health outcomes, as shown by this challenge.
Additionally, a study based in Thailand, which included 35 overweight adults aged 35-59, explored the efficacy of a pedometer-based physical activity (10,000 steps a day) intervention over 12 weeks on both mental health and physical health. Study researchers measured various factors, such as body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, body fat percentage, lean body mass, and mood, before and after the 12-week experiment.
The results of this Thai-based study found that those who accumulated 10,000 steps a day had significantly lower anxiety, depression, fatigue, anger, confusion, and total mood distress scores compared to their baseline. The participants also experienced physical benefits such as significantly lower body weight, BMI, waist circumference, and body fat percentage.
The study concluded with the beneficial effects of introducing 10,000 steps a day as a physical activity, which they concurred provided further support to the general effects of exercise in reducing stress and improving health outcomes, especially for those with a sedentary lifestyle.
However, they also mentioned other studies that have demonstrated the accumulation of 10,000 steps per day as a minimum requirement for physical activity, recommending a daily target of 10,000 steps as a general goal for improving mental and physical health outcomes.
Benefits of regular walking
Both obesity and being overweight are significant global health problems, leading to non-communicative diseases as well as cardiovascular disease. Additionally, evidence suggests obesity is associated with mental health problems such as depression, low self-esteem, poor perceived health, and concerns about body image.
However, obese individuals can alleviate their associated adverse effects by reducing mood disorders through diet control and decreasing body weight, as well as managing stress, increasing self-esteem, and undergoing psychological treatment and exercise.
Physical exercise such as walking has strong evidence to demonstrate the impact on mood, including decreasing anxiety and depression, with several studies showing overweight/obesity is inversely related to physical activity.
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Additionally, physical activity, including low physical exercise, such as walking for less than 150 minutes per week, may have the potential to prevent the development of depression in the future.3 Evidence has also shown that regular walking, with even as few as 4,000 steps, is associated with reduced mortality and morbidity risks.
Alternative fitness recommendations
The American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association have recommended a minimum of 30 minutes a day of moderate-intensity physical activity five days a week or 150 minutes per week.
These public health guidelines have been endorsed internationally. They were originally developed with the aim of preventing morbidity and mortality, with more significant scientific evidence than the arbitrary 10,000-step goal.3,5
Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services recommends setting realistic goals for most healthy adults, with exercise guidelines also including a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity, 75 minutes of intense aerobic exercise, or a combination of moderate and intense exercise a week.
Strength training can also be an alternative fitness activity consisting of exercising all major muscle groups twice a week, with the aim being to perform a single set of exercises for each muscle group. This type of exercise can be done using a weight or resistance level that is heavy enough to cause muscle fatigue after approximately 12 to 15 repetitions.
Personalizing your fitness goals
The Mayo Clinic recommends setting realistic fitness goals, with the general objective being to perform a minimum of 30 minutes of physical exercise a day. However, if this is not realistic, several short sessions of activity throughout the day may be sufficient.
It is also important to consider individual health status, lifestyle, and preferences when setting a realistic goal, with even small amounts of activity being helpful, such as five minutes a day in the first week with incremental increases to a minimum of 30 minutes.
This may or may not mean setting a step goal, but as demonstrated, walking 10,000 steps is not a magical number for improved mental and physical wellbeing; rather physical activity itself is enough to reduce mortality and morbidity.
Conclusion
While 10,000 steps a day originated as an arbitrary number, there is significant evidence of the impact of walking on both mental and physical wellbeing. If 10,000 steps of walking enable people to walk more, such as through workplace walking challenges, this can lead to improved health outcomes.
However, sticking to this number has no scientific significance, with 4,000 to 10,000 steps and even more being as or more effective depending on the fitness level of the individual.
References
Langley E. Where does “10,000 steps a-day” target come from? Evening Standard. June 21, 2019. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://www.standard.co.uk/futurelondon/health/fitness-trackers-what-is-the-origin-of-10-000-steps-aday-and-what-are-wearables-a4173306.html.
Hallam KT, Bilsborough S, de Courten M. “happy feet”: Evaluating the benefits of a 100-day 10,000 step challenge on Mental Health and Wellbeing. BMC Psychiatry. 2018;18(1). doi:10.1186/s12888-018-1609-y https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-018-1609-y
Yuenyongchaiwat K. Effects of 10,000 steps a day on physical and mental health in overweight participants in a community setting: A preliminary study. Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy. 2016;20(4):367-373. doi:10.1590/bjpt-rbf.2014.0160 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5015672/#:~:text=Results,vigor%20scores%20compared%20to%20baseline.
Ahmadi MN, Rezende LF, Ferrari G, Del Pozo Cruz B, Lee I-M, Stamatakis E. Do the associations of daily steps with mortality and incident cardiovascular disease differ by sedentary time levels? A device-based Cohort Study. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2024;58(5):261-268. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2023-107221
Tudor-Locke C, Craig CL, Brown WJ, et al. How many steps/day are enough? for adults. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2011;8(1):79. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-8-79 https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1479-5868-8-79
Walk your way to fitness. Mayo Clinic. March 12, 2024. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/walking/art-20046261.
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