Fitness trackers all urge wearers to strive for 10,000 steps per day.
Have you ever wondered why that specific number?
One doctor did, too and he found out.
Dr. Edward Phillips, assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, says that number didn't come from a scientific study. Instead it was a marketing tool.
It seems that in 1965 a Japanese company sold a pedometer with the name "10,000 steps meter" (or Manpo-kei). The company chose that number because the Japanese character for 10,000 looks like a person walking.
In fact, according to a study published in Journal of the American Medical Association, just 8,000 steps lowers your risk of dying during the next 10 years, especially from heart disease.
Most people get from 3,000 to 4,000 steps per day just going about their normal day. But if they add another 4,000 steps, they dramatically increase their lifespan. The more you walk, the better the results.
The study found that walking speed didn't make a difference in mortality. It is how far you walk, not how fast.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.