A lot less will do.
The 10,000 steps rule originated in Japan in the 1960s. A clockmaker manufactured a pedometer and called it a name that translates as “10,000 steps.” That marketing decision became a popularly accepted urban myth. But we can ignore it now.
A new study published in May 2019 tells a different story. It looks at activity and mortality in 16,741 U.S. women who are part of the Women’s Health Study. (The WHS has been tracking the health and habits of older women for decades.)
The first part of this study took place between 2011 and 2011. The average age of the women was 72. The women agreed to wear a device that measured their steps. They wore the device while they were awake for 7 days.
The women were not influenced by the readout results because they did not see them. And they were not told about them. They were simply moving through their daily lives in a typical week. Few walked for exercise. The device also measured the intensity of the steps. But the study found that intensity did not matter. The results were the same.