How Many Steps Should We Take a Day According to Science?

The key to a long and healthy life in society that you start with 10 thousand steps There is a belief that this should be done every day. However, as a result of a study by scientists, it turned out that this information was almost completely wrong.

By analyzing data on tens of thousands of people on four continents, compiled from 15 experiments, a research team has now come up with a more reasonable figure: The optimal number of steps you should take per day, depending on your age. Close to 6,000 steps, not 10k.

‘Taking too many steps can increase risk of death’

University of Massachusetts Amherst epidemiologist Amanda Paluch explains: Namely, there is no such thing as a decrease in the risk of death as the number of steps increases. This indicates different step counts in young and old people. In fact, taking so many steps for certain age groups can increase the risk of death.

in the nature of people navigate there is. Evolution has adapted our physiology to walk long distances accordingly, adjusting it to easily dissipate heat throughout our body as we move back and forth in search of food and water. This affects our metabolisms, cardiovascular fitness, the impact on our bones and muscles, and even our mental health. adjusted to need a good walk means. Squeezing any walk into our busy daily schedule helps us live longer, healthier and happier lives.

For those with no time or motivation, this is easier said than done, so tech companies keep track of the number of steps we take each day It has developed small devices and even apps that help. However, the data show that not adjusting this step number to suit our body causes more harm than good.

Why was it called 10,000 steps then?

Half a century ago, the Yamasa Watch and Instrument Company in Japan, ‘Manpo-kei’ He tried to profit from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics by producing a pedometer they named. This word ’10 thousand steps’ means. So why 10 thousand? The explanation is simple: Marketing. It’s a nice, round number that sounds tedious enough to be a goal but attainable enough to be worth the effort. However, this is unfortunately has no scientific basis.

Last year, Paluch and his team published research based on a group of more than 2,000 middle-aged individuals living across the United States. at least a day 7 thousand steps early to throw reduce the probability of death by 50 to 70 percent they found it.

From Asia, Australia, Europe and North America in the team’s latest analysis 47,471 adults It included information gathered about health and step counts. The researchers found that the 25 percent of adults who took the most steps each day were 40 to 53 percent less likely to die with step counts, compared to 25 percent of those who took the fewest steps.

For adults aged 60 and over maximum number of steps to be taken 6 thousand-8b thousand should be between, so that the risk of death can be reduced. Of course, taking extra steps by pushing harder can have other benefits, but reducing the risk of death is not one of them.

For this purpose, the study younger people It turned out that it would be good for them to walk a little more. However, the purpose of young people walking 8 thousand to 10 thousand walking more than one step does not increase life expectancy, but muscle growth and fitness.