If the World Health Organization recommends walking 10,000 steps per day to improve our health, this recommendation has struggled to find scientific support. This is thanks to Australian researchers.
“The exact origins of the belief that people should aim for 10,000 steps per day are unclear“, we can read in the magazine’s column The New Scientist. “But it probably has to do with a marketing campaign promoting pedometers in Japan“
Which seems to have worked ever since, the “10,000 steps” bar has entered our subconscious just like the “5 fruits and vegetables per day” bar.
But is this scientifically verified? Researchers at the University of Sydney have just validated this idea. Examining data from more than 72,000 people, researchers observed that taking 2,200 steps daily reduced the risk of death.
Compensate for a sedentary lifestyle
But most of all, they found that reaching 9,000 to 10,000 steps per day reduced the risk of premature death or cardiovascular accident by 39%. And that these benefits can counteract the health consequences of a very sedentary lifestyle.
The main author of this work is Dr. For Matthew Ahmadi, “It is by no means a get-out-of-jail-free card for people who are sedentary for too much time. However, it has an important public health message that all movement counts and that people can and should try to offset the health consequences of unavoidable sedentary time by increasing their daily step count.“
