Should you be walking 🚶‍♂️10,000 steps daily? 🤔

Walking 10,000 steps per day has become a popular recommendation in the fitness industry.

Is this just a random number that people just decided on?

Turns out, 10,000 steps per day is quite an important number that helps with weight loss and other health diseases.

For most people, walking 10,000 steps equates to about 8km (or 5 miles).

A study in JAMA Neurology found that accumulating more steps per day (up to about 10,000 steps) was associated with declines in mortality risks and decreased cancer and cardiovascular disease incidence.

[doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.4000]

It also showed a steady decline in dementia incidence risk, up to 9800 steps per day, beyond which the benefits upturned.

[doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2022.2672]

When it comes to weight loss, clocking in 10,000 steps daily has also been shown to be useful.

Compared to other activities like running, walking is a low-impact activity that can be done daily and sustainably.

In general, most people burn about 0.04 kcal per step. This means that you should be burning around 300-500 kcal if you were to accumulate 10,000 steps. Other factors such as body weight and walking intensity may affect how many calories you burn.

A study involving 30 overweight participants who accumulated 10,000 steps daily for 12 weeks saw an average loss of ~3% body fat.

They also had significantly lower anxiety, depression, anger, fatigue, confusion, and total mood distress scores compared with measurements taken prior to the intervention.

[PMID: 27556393]

Aiming for 10,000 steps daily is a good way for many individuals to kickstart their health & fitness journey. Over time, it would also be good to aim to walk faster, as this has shown to be more effective as well.

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