10,000 steps per day: is the goal scientifically proven?

Exercising regularly is recommended by scientific authorities more than ever. A figure is also very often put forward: that of taking at least 10,000 steps each day. This recommendation is present in many minds, as it can be reminded us by certain doctors and applications. But is this really a scientifically proven goal?

In the eyes of Perrine Capron, sports doctor, the famous 10,000 daily steps should be qualified, depending on the profile of individuals in particular? “It doesn’t make scientific sense. 10,000 steps doesn’t mean the same for someone who is 30 years old and someone who has a health problem or who is an elderly person.”, she says. And to add: “You don’t have to be obsessed with that number. You have to move. It’s a way of life. That’s really what you have to remember.”

Scientists have looked into the question of these daily steps. In May 2019, an American study carried out on 16,000 women aged between 62 and 102 years was particularly interested in the impact of daily walking on the death rate. The death rate for women taking 4,400 steps per day was shown to be 41% lower than for those taking 2,700 steps per day. We also learn that the more the number of steps increased, the more the mortality rate kept falling, before stabilizing at 7,500 steps. Beyond this bar, there was no established link between walking and improved health.

On the WHO side, a daily step count has not been recommended, but the United Nations agency suggests that an adult should walk at least 2.5 hours per week. This activity can also be more intense, such as running for 1 hour and 15 minutes per week.

So where does this figure of 10,000 daily steps come from? In fact, it refers to a slogan of an advertising campaign launched on the occasion of the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. The product in question was a pedometer called the Manpo-Kei, accompanied by the phrase “Let’s walk 10,000 steps a day”. Here, this figure was therefore used for marketing purposes.

The objective was therefore to convey a clear message and objective, which everyone can remember quite easily. “It’s like when we launched the ‘5 fruits and vegetables a day’ campaign. When you want to develop a new social norm, you have to have very clear messages, achievable goals, easy to understand.”, develops Magali Tézenas du Montcel, sports expert and general manager of the organization Sporsora.

In 2017, a barometer established by OpinionWay and IRMES for Attitude Prévention had estimated that the French took an average of 7,889 steps per day. In this sense, the National Observatory for Physical Activity and Sedentary Life (Onaps) recommended setting a target “achievable and reasonable” of steps to do every day. The main goal is to stay on the move in order to reduce the risk of hypertension and diabetes.