At the start of this semester, I set a goal to hit 10k steps every day. I knew that movement was an essential part of my day-to-day wellness beyond just physical fitness, having realized in the past year just how much movement helps me regulate my mental and emotional wellbeing. Knowing I tend to enjoy getting my daily movement in through running and walking, I thought this 10k steps a day metric would be a helpful standard to aim for while trying to build healthy habits.
However, walking every day gave me a lot of time to think, and inevitably I started to wonder where exactly this 10k steps a day metric came from. It was a goal I remembered from when I was young, but one that I realized I had no idea the actual reasoning behind. So to satisfy my curiosity, I started to look into it.
Where does the 10k steps a day goal come from?
The surprising answer to my question was that the 10k steps a day goal that I had long believed to be the standard for daily fitness actually originated from a 1960s marketing campaign in Japan. The goal had been promoted as a means of advertising the Manpo-Kei device, an early version of the pedometer, in the lead up to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Despite the fact that the campaign didn’t have any scientific evidence to suggest that 10k steps a day was the gold standard for daily movement goals, the marketing was hugely successful, ingraining the five figure step count into the public consciousness.
Do we really need 10k steps?
In the years since the successes of the Manpo-Kei marketing campaign, several studies have looked to reevaluate the benefits of walking 10k steps a day. Most have concluded that this goal, despite its catchiness, is an arbitrary number in terms of actually tracking fitness. Recent studies have focused on the fact that simply walking around 4.5k steps a day comes with plenty of health benefits and helps to reduce long term mortality rates, with health benefits actually beginning to plateau around 7k steps a day. Ultimately, the research suggests that while 10k steps is still going to keep you perfectly healthy, it may not be as efficient or easy to maintain as a daily goal as a number between the 4.5k-7k steps a day range.
Despite the varying metrics, the consistent conclusion is that increased movement is vital for staying healthy. Daily movement offers cardiovascular benefits and helps prevent harmful impacts to the body caused by too much time spent sedentary. Beyond physical, there is also evidence that suggests walking helps long term cognitive health, mental clarity, sleep quality, and helps to reduce feelings of anxiety and depression.
My case for the daily walk (regardless of step count)
Whether we should be aiming to get at least 7k or 10k steps a day, I firmly believe the daily walk is one of my most rewarding routines. While the movement helps me feel less lethargic and more clearheaded, taking time out of my day to go appreciate my surroundings (especially in a town as lovely as St Andrews) has really helped get me out of many mental spirals and led me to more consistently practice daily gratitude.Â
Walking is also a refreshingly adaptable daily routine, beyond just the freedom of being able to chart your own course. Whether you want to bring along a friend for a walk and talk, put in your headphones and listen to your favorite playlist, catch up on a podcast, call your parents, or if you want to go unplugged and just enjoy the sounds of the world around you, you can make each daily walk your own.Â
The chance to get outside, enjoy the fresh air, and have time where you don’t need to be doing anything else is not only enjoyable and recentering in the moment, but has had tangible benefits for my physical, emotional, and mental health. Even if the varying metrics put you off of having a specific step count goal, I’d still encourage everyone to get out and embrace the joy of a daily walk.