by Taking care of your health is one of the most important goals of more and more people. Eating healthy and balanced, doing some exercisedrinking the necessary water and avoiding a sedentary lifestyle, Our health must be maintained in good condition, both physically and mentally.although sometimes it is difficult to apply all these mantras.
Regarding physical exercise, we must take into account the conditions of each person individually, since the activity that a 65-year-old with some respiratory difficulty can and has to practice is not the same as that of a 30-year-old with an office job. Adapting activities and habits is crucial to taking care of your health.
This also applies to one of the most recent trends in this matter, that of walk 10,000 steps a day. For some time now the idea has been spreading that this is the ideal figure to carry out in general, and proof of this are some devices and applications of smart watches and mobile phones in which this fact is established using step counters.
The origin of this statement
But where does this statement come from? According to several sources, it is said that in 1965, a company in Japan marketed a pedometer called ‘Manpo-Kei’, whose translation is ‘10,000 step meter’. According to Japanese researchers, the reason why such a figure was chosen is based on the fact that the number refers to a Japanese character or letter with a shape similar to that of a walking man, supposedly. That’s why this association seemed like a good idea to them and, little by little, everyone welcomed the idea of having to walk 10,000 steps a day to take care of your physical fitness.
How many steps should you take a day for good health?
Today, this has changed, and the 10,000 steps a day are more of a myth or an urban legend than a substantiated claim. Thus, several more recent studies have shed light on What number of steps would be ideal? depending on age. According to research published by JAMA (journal of the American Medical Association), it is indicated that The optimal number of daily steps would be about 8,000. Increasing 2,000 to the supposed 10,000, no significant health benefits were seen, so it makes no sense to walk too much if you want to take advantage of the benefits of a walk.
Considering another study published in ‘The Lancet’ The myth of 10,000 steps is also dismantled. In a group of more than a decade of research between 1999 and 2018 on more than 47,000 adults, it was developed that they are about 7,000 steps, ideal for people over 60 years old. For its part, For those under 60, it also coincides with the other study on 8,000 steps per day. The analysis showed that, in people over 60 years of age, the risk of mortality is reduced by 50% for those who increased the number of daily steps from 3,000 to 7,000 steps.
It was developed that about 7,000 steps are ideal for people over 60 years of age.
Regarding 10,000 steps, this study also states that there are no benefits and that it may even be slightly harmful since instead of reducing the risk of mortality, continuing to walk could increase it. It is also stated that walk fast It would be a key to taking advantage of what we walk in favor of our physique and always considering the capabilities of each one.
The WHO does not focus on the number of daily steps
The World Health Organization (WHO) does not even focus on the daily number of steps a person should take, but rather in the time of physical activity, adapting them to the age of each person. In this way, it is established that in adults from 18 to 64 years old they are carried out weekly «aerobic physical activities moderate for at least 150 to 300 minutes or vigorous aerobic physical activities for at least 75 to 150 minutes. Curiously, for people over 64 years of age, a similar measure is applied, adding to both the activity that helps strengthen muscles of the whole body twice a week or more.
