You may, like many others, have heard that you should aim for 10,000 steps a day, which may seem quite daunting if you have a sedentary job or other commitments.

While everyone knows it is important to ensure you exercise regularly, one leading doctor has suggested that the notion of 10,000 steps a day is a marketing ploy.

On his podcast Feel Better, Live More, BBC Breakfast’s resident doctor, Dr Rangan Chatterjee, had a chat with paleoanthropologist Dr Daniel Lieberman, The Mirror reports.

During the interview, he revealed the concept of “10,000 steps a day came from this accelerometer that was created in Japan just before the Olympics in 64”.

According to Dr Lieberman, who is based in Massachusetts, USA, the figure 10,000 was put forward as it is an “auspicious number in Japan“, resulting in the ‘10,000 steps meter’.

In anticipation of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Yamasa aimed to capitalise on the growing interest in fitness, developing the world’s first wearable step-counter, named the Manpo-Kei, which translates to “10,000-step meter”.

It’s believed that the company chose the number randomly, but its catchy nature has ensured its popularity to this day.

In a podcast snippet shared on TikTok, he elaborated: “So, there is no one number of steps to take per day. The evidence on exercise is pretty darn clear.

“Anything is better than nothing. If you’re completely sedentary, more steps climbing the stairs, parking your car further away from the shop…. anything is better than nothing. More is better, and at a certain point the benefits seem to tail off.”

He raised caution with having a specific step count to obsess over as it is “not only impossible”, but also sends the “wrong message”.

In general, around 150 minutes of physical activity per week for those aged between 19 and 64, with walking, significantly contributes to stamina, calorie burning, and heart health.

Another study, published in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology in 2023, found that walking just 4,000 steps a day could be enough to reduce a person’s risk of early death.

Other, separate studies have found that walking for just 30 minutes a day can help you lose weight, and the Nordic Walking technique can help you burn 20 per cent more calories.

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