https://www.insider.com/walking-10000-steps-for-health-not-science-based-in-marketing-2021-7?amp
* Walking can help reduce your risk of illness and improve mental and physical health.
* But it's an old marketing myth that the optimal number is 10,000 steps a day.
* For health, researchers found 7,000 to 8,000 daily steps was beneficial.
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10,000 steps a day started as a marketing slogan
The idea that walking 10,000 steps is optimal came from a catchy ad in Japanese, according to Daniel Lieberman, a Harvard paleoanthropologist who has studied the evolution of exercise.
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A 2019 study on older women found that those who walked 4,400 steps a day had lower mortality rates over four years of follow-up than those who walked the least (about 2,700 steps a day or fewer).
But the reduction in risk appeared to max out at about 7,500 steps a day, and researchers found no additional benefits to walking 10,000 or more daily steps.
Similarly, a 2020 study found that taking 8,000 to 12,000 steps a day was linked to lower risk of dying of any cause during the study, compared with 4,000 steps a day.
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Some evidence suggests walking doesn't lead to significant weight loss long term
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over time, the body compensates for extra energy you burn through exercise by budgeting more carefully or increasing your hunger signals so you eat more to make up for it.
While this theory is somewhat controversial and requires more research, it suggests the relationship between walking and weight loss isn't as straightforward as people may think. So walking 10,000 steps a day isn't a hard and fast rule for shedding pounds any more than it's a prescription for better health.