The 10,000 Step Myth

The October 2025 Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter tells us that "there are no set guidelines for how far you need to walk to get health benefits. It's likely different for different people and depends on other factors, such as how fast you walk, and what else you are doing. But there are evidence-based physical activity guidelines: aim for 150 minutes a week of moderate activity (like walking, water aerobics, biking or gardening), or 75 minutes of vigorous activity like running or swimming laps."

If you are using walking as your main form of exercise, research indicates that 7000 steps is "clinically meaningful" for health improvements for dementia, diabetes, depression, and a lower cardiovascular disease risk. They add that strength training and balance exercises are also very important.

The Chinese walking method and the Japanese walking method are also recently in the news. We'll take a look at both.

The Chinese method is based on Tai Chi, has been around for centuries, and is slow and deliberate. It's called moving meditation and isn't meant to move you very far, but unlike Tai Chi it is simple and quick to master.

Stand keeping the knees soft and the body relaxed, shift your weight to the left foot and lift the right foot off the floor, then slowly put it back down in front of you heel first, and roll your foot forward in one motion placing your weight on it. Take a deep breath and do the same with the left foot.

If you try it you notice that it tests your balance, and a study published in the Journal of Biomechanics between regular walking and the Chinese method concluded that "it challenges body balance and requires more muscle strength of lower limb joints than regular walking." They believe the body could thus develop neuromuscular control strategies which may reduce the risk of falls.

The Japanese walking method was developed 20 years ago, and was based on the idea of interval training and is known as interval walking training. It involves alternating between three minutes of brisk walking and three minutes of slower walking for a total of 30 minutes. When compared with regular walking of 8000 steps, each done four times a week, this technique developed greater physical fitness and cardiovascular health.

If you are using walking as your main form of exercise, the 10,000 steps may simply give you a goal, and the Japanese or Chinese method might be useful occasionally.

My Take

We use walking to stay active and as a recovery strategy, not as our main form of exercise, and push ourselves during our regular workouts in our office or home gyms. We don't aim for a certain number of steps each day, but because of our exercise experience we determine how much movement the day should have. We have also used hiking, rowing, Ski-Erg, stair climbing, etc. as more intense aerobic strategies.

The 10,000 steps a day is now seen more as a motivational tool than a medical recommendation. There are stories about its origination including that it began as a marketing campaign in Japan in the 1960s during the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics when a Japanese company launched a pedometer worn around the waist with a name that translated in Japanese to "10,000 steps meter."

What is interesting about this story - outside of its being an origin story of the "10,000 steps" - is the fact that this pedometer was a pioneer in the wearable tech area and had significant impact. The idea of determining health metrics and goal setting is common today in watches such as Apple and Fitbit, and the new fitness rings, etc. The Japanese model seems to be the first wearable tech, however, really connected to healthier living and successful in spreading the idea, although the idea of a pedometer can be traced back centuries and included Leonardo da Vinci.

Wikipedia gives the backstory: "Dr. Iwao Ohya, head of one of Tokyo's biggest clinics, told Tokyo engineer Juri Kato of clockmaker Yamasa Tokei Keiki (tokei means clocks and keiki meters) of his concern at the low levels of physical activity in 1960s Japan; the solution, said Ohya, was for everyone to walk 10,000 steps a day. After two years of development, Juri Kato produced the manpokei — the "ten-thousand step-meter". Its impact was "significant" in Japan - and obviously, beyond.

My belated congratulations to Dr. Ohya and engineer Kato. The real story here is not whether you achieve 10,000 steps a day or only 5,000. The real story is whether you recognize, as apparently Dr. Ohya did, that movement is life.

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From The Desk Of Clarence Bass