You Don’t Need to Take 10,000 Steps to Gain Health Benefits

Research provides hope for those with an energy-limiting illness

“I must…I must…I must increase my steps!”

Ever find yourself looking at your phone or wearable in dismay after what feels like a marathon day only to discover your daily steps are well below the magic 10,000?

Soul destroying.

Especially if you have a chronic health condition that limits your physical activity and energy levels. A condition such as COPD, fibromyalgia, lupus, or as in my case, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and Long Covid.

Where Did the Idea of Taking 10,000 Steps per Day Come From?

Would you believe it’s not from scientific research and evidence?

Surprisingly it’s from a 1960s Japanese marketing campaign for a pedometer named Manpo-kei, which translates to “10,000 steps meter.” It’s an idea that has become ingrained in our beliefs about health and fitness and remains a gold standard target for physical activity.

But Do We Really Have to Take 10,000 Steps per Day?

As a healthcare professional, to stay up to date in a rapidly changing field, I’m signed up for many health-related journals and newsletters. One of these is Medscape with daily emails bombarding my inbox.

On 10th August 2023, my Medscape email included the following article:

Step Counts Under 5000 Still Tied to Lower Death Risk

My interest was immediately triggered. Since my positive COVID-19 test in February 2022, I have only averaged just over 2000 steps daily. This improved a little this Summer with my average currently approaching 4000 steps. This had however taken substantial effort and has caused me to ‘crash’ more than once.

I’ve been worried about my sedentary lifestyle. The article headline offered me hope.

The article was based on a study conducted in Poland and published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

Recognizing that many people with heart disease struggle to reach anywhere near 10,000 steps, and therefore feel disheartened, the researchers aimed to determine if any health benefits could be achieved if a lower daily step count was set for them.

Results From Robust Research

The Polish study was a meta-analysis with the scientific strength of bringing together data from 17 studies and over 226,000 participants who were either healthy or at risk of cardiovascular disease. They had been followed up for approximately seven years.

Benefits from making small increases to daily step counts were discovered.

An increase of 500 steps daily resulted in a 7% decrease in cardiovascular mortality, whilst increasing by 1000 steps daily led to a 15% decrease in death from any cause (all-cause mortality).

What eased my worry most was that all-cause mortality was reduced when people had averaged daily step counts of 3867 or above. Cardiovascular-related mortality was reduced by achieving more than 2337 steps a day.

Relief!

Does the Benefit Keep Increasing as You Increase Your Steps?

The Polish study found this to be the case. Those who did just over 10,000 steps had a 77% reduction in cardiovascular mortality. This is in contrast to the findings of other research where the positive effect of reduced all-cause mortality was found to plateau at a daily count of 7500.

In conclusion, increasing your step count to a more challenging but still comfortable level should result in positive effects. You can take the pressure off yourself to achieve 10,000 if this remains beyond your capability.

Putting Science into Practice

Have a look at your phone, watch, or other device you may have and see what your current average daily step count is.

Feeling deflated at the figure? Let’s take heart (excuse the pun) from the research.

Is the figure more than 2337 or 3867? Then you know you are already improving your long-term health. Having read the Polish study, I feel better about my recent increases in step count and no longer feel the pressure to push through a condition that doesn’t reward me for over-exertion.

If you want to try to increase your daily step count, increase that number by 500, or 1000, whichever you feel is achievable.

Set that as your new daily step target.

Once you achieve this over the next few weeks and if/when you feel ready, increase by 500 or 1000 again. Small incremental changes to your daily habits are more likely to lead to consistency and success, and less likely to cause you disappointment and distress.

This is now going to be my realistic approach toward a gradual return to better physical fitness and activity without exacerbating my energy-limiting illness. I know it’s unlikely that I’ll ever achieve 10,000 steps daily, but any sustained increase I can manage will help me as I age.