I am not exactly a fitness afficionado, but this summer I decided that I really needed to shed some weight. My exercise routine basically consists of going for walks and, weather permitting, walking from home to the office and back (approximately 30 minutes and 3 kilometers each way). And, as it happens, I also have a step-counter on my phone, where I track my progress towards the magical 10’000 steps. But then I happened to come across an article not that long ago, which stated that actually some 7’000 to 8’000 steps per day were sufficient to have a beneficial effect and that there was no scientific evidence for the famous 10k-number. I got intrigued and dug a bit deeper…
So where does this magic number come from? According to most sources it dates back to a marketing campaign conducted shortly before the start of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. The Yamasa Corporation began selling a pedometer called the Manpo-kei: “man” meaning 10,000, “po” meaning steps and “kei” meaning meter. It was hugely successful, and the number seems to have stuck. Ever since, however, no study has been able to substantiate the supposed health benefits associated with achieving this daily goal. According to recent estimates, most adults in America, Canada and other Western nations average fewer than 5’000 steps a day. But even a considerably lower count than the 10’000 can improve your health – and incremental increases in the number of steps taken improve a person’s cardiovascular health.
It’s fair to say that most people – and including myself – cannot maintain 10’000 steps for a whole week as this equates for an average man to a walking distance of approximately 8 kilometres – a very ambitious goal to say the least. Intuitively one would expect that more steps lead to more calories burned and thus to weight loss, but this isn’t necessarily a given: Herman Pontzer, an evolutionary biologist, collected data showing that traditional hunter-gatherers, who walk miles each day, burn nearly the same number of calories as sedentary Americans. His somewhat controversial theory to explain this is that, over time, the body compensates for extra energy you burn through exercise by budgeting more carefully or increasing your hunger signals so you eat more to make up for it (the nutritionist guiding me through my slimming effort supports this line of thought).
Several studies show that up to 8’000 steps per day are beneficial, but that after that the additional benefits to your well-being level off. Numerous studies mean an equal number of different conclusions. But in one thing they all agree: the 10’000 steps are a myth. Nevertheless, the extra walking I have done and healthier eating habits I have adopted have helped me shed 12 kgs in 2 1/2 months. Now the next challenge is to keep them off.
The grumpy older man 