MOVE

How Many Steps Do We Really Need?

2 minute read

The famous 10,000-steps-a-day rule wasn't born in a medical laboratory. It traces back to a Japanese pedometer sold in the 1960s called the Manpo-kei, or "10,000-steps meter." Modern research, however, has discovered something far more useful: there isn't a magic number. In a study of 16,741 older women published in JAMA Internal Medicine, mortality was already significantly lower among women averaging about 4,400 steps a day compared with roughly 2,700, with benefits progressively increasing before leveling around 7,500 steps.

The message becomes even stronger when researchers look at a broader population. A JAMA study of U.S. adults aged 40 and older found that taking about 8,000 versus 4,000 steps per day was associated with roughly half the risk of death from any cause after accounting for numerous health and lifestyle factors. Interestingly, once total steps were considered, walking faster wasn't significantly associated with additional mortality benefit. An NEJM Clinician review of a much larger meta-analysis—approximately 227,000 people—similarly reported that benefits appeared at relatively modest activity levels and generally increased as people accumulated more steps.

So forget obsessing over a perfect 10,000. The more important goal is to move more than you do today. Walk the dog. Take the stairs. Park farther away. Walk while taking a phone call. Go outside after dinner. If you're currently averaging 3,000 steps, 5,000 is progress. If you're comfortably reaching 7,000 or 8,000, that's meaningful movement too. Walking is simple, accessible and remarkably powerful—and the science increasingly suggests that you don't have to be perfect to benefit. You just have to MOVE.

References

Lee IM, Shiroma EJ, Kamada M, et al. Association of Step Volume and Intensity With All-Cause Mortality in Older Women. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2019.
Read the JAMA Internal Medicine study

Saint-Maurice PF, Troiano RP, Bassett DR Jr, et al. Association of Daily Step Count and Step Intensity With Mortality Among US Adults. JAMA. 2020.
Read the JAMA study

Komaroff AL, MD. Mortality Benefits Are Associated with Even Low Daily Step Counts. NEJM Clinician / NEJM Journal Watch. 2023.
Read the NEJM Clinician review