‘I’m just getting my steps in!’ How often do we hear this nowadays? Ten years ago no-one would have known what they were talking about, but it’s now a thing. 10,000 steps a day, the magic number to target for those wanting to maintain some degree of fitness without having to go to the gym. Even better if you do, as suddenly step-counts mushroom after a session on the treadmill.
The funny thing is, there was no science behind choosing 10,000 steps as a daily target, and until now there has been no formal recommendation for this as a healthy target. It’s a nice round number and seemed like a reasonable figure to pluck from the air. Until now, that is.
Only last month a meta-analysis, which consisted of a review and statistical mash-up of 31 scientific studies into step-counts made on wearable tech such as Apple watches, Garmins and Fitbits, was published in the Lancet. These studies spanned 11 years from 2014 to 2025. By combining the results, the group of researchers based across Australia, Spain and UK were able to demonstrate convincing evidence supporting the use of step-counts to help us live longer, but also avoid diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, strokes, cancer and dementia.
This will be a significant step forward, if you’ll pardon the pun, for those responsible for making national and international recommendations on physical activity and exercise. It takes a popular pastime and moves it into the arena of healthcare. However, what caught the attention of the media was that the evidence pointed towards 7,000 steps as providing the biggest ‘bang for your buck’ rather than 10,000 steps. People were throwing their hands up in horror – ‘All those extra steps for nothing?’ … “Why do they keep moving the goal-posts?’
The real truth is that pretty much all physical activity is good for you. However, the statistics from research suggested that health gains increased steeply until around 5,000-7,000 steps, then levelled off a bit, continuing to about 12,000 steps a day. Importantly they showed that any increase in daily steps was linked to longer life and reduced risk of certain life-limiting disease such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc.
Another important development from this will be the collection and making sense of, the vast amounts of data which are being collected by wearable tech across the world, likely to revolutionise our understanding of human physiology and disease, if harnessed effectively. Anyone who wears a smart watch has much more than their steps being counted. Blood oxygen levels, pulse rate, heart rhythm, sleep time and temperature are some of the physiological parameters being continuously monitored and recorded. Already these researchers have identified cadence – how many steps we take each minute – as an important area of future research as they believe this will provide additional valuable data into fitness.
Some of the figures from the research are actually quite interesting. Comparing those taking 7,000 daily steps against those taking only 2,000, risks were reduced by 47% for death, 37% for cancer, 28% for falls and 14% for diabetes.
They agreed that anything which can be done to reduce inactivity is a good thing. Inactivity, that is being active for less than two and a half hours per week, is thought responsible for 8% of all non-infectious disease, and costs billions in resultant healthcare, and damages economies due to working hours lost. Worldwide around one third of adults are ‘inactive’ with these numbers possibly increasing.
So what if it’s actually 7,000 steps and not 10,000 steps? What has been great is that step-counting is something that everyone can do, and perhaps 7,000 is a more realistic target for the majority of people. If it gets us all thinking about increasing our activity it’s a win-win across the board.
And what of all the other ‘doses’ of good things to do for our health: Drink 1.5 litres of water daily, Sleep eight hours a night, five-a-day (or is it seven-a-day?) portions of fruit and vegetables, etc? As new research comes through it’s likely these will be adjusted, but at least for now it encourages us to aim high for longer, healthier lives.
Nothing wrong with taking a moonshot… just ask Buzz Aldrin!
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