Many track their daily activity using smartphones, watches and wristbands. Each of the gadgets mentioned advises that for a healthy life it is recommended to take at least 10.000 steps every day.
The magic number of ten thousand steps dates back to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. A well-known Japanese company produced popular pedometers (step counters) under the name Manpo-kei, which translates to ten thousand steps. BBC.
Until now, no serious research has been conducted that establishes the importance of walking for human health.
Professor Min Li at the Faculty of Medicine of Oxford University conducted an extensive study on a sample of as many as 16.000 women over the age of seventy. The goal was to determine the connection between the daily activity of these women and the reason for their death regardless of the cause.
All participants were given pedometer devices that will track the number of steps taken on a daily basis. After four years and three months, 504 of them died. The women who survived took an average of more than five thousand steps a day.
A group that takes an average of more than 4.000 steps has a higher chance of living into old age than those who take only 2.700, experts say. The problem in this research is that those people who were already less mobile were already sick.
Studies have found that women who are "fit" enough to pass the magic number of 10.000 a week are very likely to live to a ripe old age.
Jordan Etkin, a psychologist from Duke University, concluded that people who tracked their activity took more steps, but enjoyed the walk significantly less.
The benefit of walking in humans occurs after 7.500 steps, anything beyond that does not significantly affect your health, according to scientists.
Steps taken are not always an accurate indicator of your daily activity. Let's say, when you run, your daily result will not be noticeably better, but because of that you have covered a significantly greater distance.
Source: BBC/N1
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