How Realistic Is 10,000 Steps Per Day?

You may have heard of the idea that in order to live and maintain a healthy lifestyle, one should try to attain 10,000 steps in a day. The origins of this are traced back to Japan in the 1960’s when Dr. Yoshiro Hatano, a Japanese researcher invented the first pedometer, known as the “manopo-key” which translates to “10,000 steps meter”.

His research suggested that walking 10,000 steps every day helps maintain a healthy lifestyle and prevents various health issues.

But is this realistic?

For this podcast, we wanted to unpack this notion that 10,000 steps daily is a benchmark and discuss whether this should be our standard of measurement a healthy life or should we consider a more “adjusted” idea of this concept.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

1). How the idea of getting in 10,000 steps a day came about and how it became widely accepted as the “standard” amount of steps one should try to achieve in a day.

2). Why using a pedometer to track your steps is a great idea no matter what your step goal is because it can help motivate and empower us to track our fitness progress daily.

3). Meredith’s personal experiences in experimenting with daily step counting and if she was able to reach 10,000 steps a day on a regular basis.

4). How wearing proper footwear can affect your step activity level throughout the day.

5). How trying to achieve a fitness goal like 10,000 steps a day can affect you not just physically, but mentally as well especially if it’s a goal that is not meant for everyone at all times.

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As we travel down our own fitness journey it’s important to remember the things that keep us healthy, active, and that apply to our level of fitness. The idea of 10,000 steps a day may be attainable for some, but certainly not for everyone.

We’d also like to stress that just because this is a “popular” concept, it shouldn’t be looked at as the “go-to” standard measurement of active health. Making sure you are comfortable with your own exercise routine and sticking to it is the most important measurement of dedication to a healthy lifestyle.

Team Meredith

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