10,000 Steps a Day: How Did We Get Here?
Many people from all walks of life (pun intended) know that there is a recommendation that everyone needs to walk at least 10,000 steps per day. Who decided 10,000 steps per day was a good number? The advice has been literally around the world for more than 40 years and the widespread knowledge of this fact is amazing. If you like history with your facts, you’ll like this.
Step counting started out to measure distance. The word “mile” comes from the Latin phrase milia passuum, meaning 1,000 paces. The Roman mile was 1000 paces or the 2,000 steps of a grown adult. Leonardo da Vinci built the first mechanical step counter. He tied a lever to his thigh and attached it to his waist. A gear rotated with movement and counted the steps. Thomas Jefferson got into it too. He commissioned a step counter from a watchmaker in Paris. It used a string tied to a strap below his knee, and when he moved, it pulled the string and rotated gears hiding in his jacket pocket. He wanted to know the distance from Paris to landmarks in steps. He gifted James Madison with one in 1788. In 1820, the Tsar of Russia had a self-contained pedometer made for use in measuring the distance and pace of his marching armies.
Fast forward to the 1960’s when a team at the Kyushu University of Health in Welfare began to worry about the rise of obesity in Japan. They found that the average Japanese walked between 3,000 to 5,000 steps per day, equating to about 300 to 400 Kcal. They reasoned that if body size, age, gender and current weight were factored in, and if they could get people to increase their steps to 10,000 per day, a 20 kg weight loss was possible over a year. That’s over 40 pounds. Based on this, the Yamasa company in Tokyo designed a manpo–kei (10,000 steps meter) in 1965. The 10,000 steps per day slogan originated in Japan shortly after the Tokyo Olympics.
That’s a good deal of weight if you want to lose it, but it may not be sustainable for everyone to walk 10,000 steps. What if you can’t for any number of reasons? It’s worth noting that there are few scientific studies with evidence linking steps with mortality and cardiovascular disease but by 1996, counting steps became an accepted method of assessing physical activity in scientific research.
Since then, research teams have tried to define this further, like the research team led by Rikuta Hamaya, MD from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston in 2004. Participants who engaged in more than the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week had a 32% lower mortality risk than those who were the least physically active. Women with > 7000 steps per day had a 42% lower mortality risk than those with the lowest daily step count.
Bottom line? It just pays to move more. There are multiple ways to meet exercise recommendations. The last Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans were developed in 2018. The revision is planned in 2028. For substantial benefits, you should do at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity with muscle-strengthening activities two or more days per week. Let the fitness staff at ViaroFit help with these goals. When it comes to physical activity, it all counts!
Teresa Pulvermacher FNP-C
President, ViaroHealth
For questions or comments, contact wellness@viarohealth.com
