On the Trail With Dayle: Is 10,000 steps a day a magic prescription?
“We don’t have any evidence for 10,000 steps. It’s just a really big random number that people throw out there.”
The short answer, as noted by Professor Ding, is no. While many others have called 10,000 steps a day a “debunked myth,” some health writers continue to defend the number, and some still use it to promote health-related challenges. So where did the advice to walk 10,000 steps a day come from? And more importantly, should you use it to judge your own activity and lifestyle?
In fact, 10,000 steps is an arbitrary number with somewhat murky origins during the mid-1960s in Japan. The 1964 Tokyo Olympics increased awareness of fitness and its links to improving health, reducing obesity, and fighting lifestyle diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and stroke. The Yamasa Corporation, a Japanese maker of instruments and watches, introduced the modern pedometer around the same time.
Yamasa called their new device the manpo kei, which translates to “10,000-step meter.” Ten thousand was a nice, familiar, round number in Japan—and a lot of steps. Some suggest that the kanji character, 万, which means 10,000, also looks like a person walking. Whatever the exact origin of the number, Japanese walking clubs sprang up, and manpo-kei was the minimum distance they were expected to walk every day.
The simplest exercise is walking—most people can do it without special equipment or training. It’s not surprising that pedometers—and the concept of walking 10,000 steps a day—moved from Japanese health programs to walkers around the world. By 2004, even McDonald’s® was attempting to improve its image with Adult Happy Meals, featuring salad, bottled water, a step-o-meter, and advice to walk more. In 2016, McDonald’s tried again with Step-It activity trackers for kids (which had to be recalled due to concerns over skin irritations).
Fast forward to 2025, when nearly every American walks around with a device to count steps, stairs, calories, and other health parameters. You might have a specialized fitness tracker, a smart watch, or just the standard health app on your cell phone. I can easily look back on my phone for a record of my daily steps over the past year. To be transparent, I turned off the app’s notifications: I hated it whenever my phone started telling me that I had walked less than I usually did. NOT smart phone!
There is no doubt that activity is good for your physical, mental, and emotional health—and that walking, especially outdoors, is an easy, inexpensive way to be active. But you do not need to walk 10,000 steps in a day to get the benefits. A recent Lancet Public Health article analyzed 57 studies over 10-plus years and found that compared to adults walking 2,000 steps, people who logged about 7,000 steps per day enjoyed a long list of benefits, including:
47% lower risk of death (all-cause mortality)
47% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease
25% lower risk of cardiovascular disease incidence
38% lower risk of dementia
37% lower risk of cancer mortality
28% lower risk of falls
22% lower risk of depressive symptoms
14% lower risk of type 2 diabetes
So, there is your answer: 7,000 is much closer to the “magic” number for most adults.
As I was looking into the facts about steps, I learned about several other issues being investigated by researchers:
You may need fewer steps as you age. 6,000 steps or so per day may provide the maximum benefits for those older than 60 years.
Pace matters. At least one study has shown that alternating fast walking with your normal pace can help you improve physical health measures.
Strength training is important. Walking does not help build or even maintain muscle mass. However, you do not necessarily need a gym; bodyweight exercises, light dumbbells, and stretchy resistance bands can help you do enough.
Consistency is key!
Finally, tracking your daily steps can have a negative effect on some people, some of the time. In 2015, researchers conducted several studies at Duke University and summarized their results with this statement: “…while measuring can prompt us to do more, it can make us enjoy activities less—and do less of them once we stop tracking output.”
May I gently suggest that it might be time to assess your relationship with tracking your steps? If you are fine with your tracking device and have no problem getting a reasonable number of steps on most days, great! If you struggle to get yourself out on the trail or, like me, get irritated about messages from your device, maybe it is time to turn the dang thing off for a while (or at least turn off the notifications).
Walking Montana trails is a joyful activity that fills me with contentment and gratitude. I also like the discipline of going to the gym regularly and the challenge of longer hikes. For me, it is a question of balance—and, if I must choose, joy always wins over counting steps!