Exercise benefits overall health, and walking is one of the easiest ways to achieve it. The only things you need are a comfortable pair of shoes, time, and according to many experts, a commitment to take 10,000 steps a day.
It takes the average person about 30 minutes to walk between 3,000 and 4,000 steps, according to Harvard Medical School. That means, to get the often-quoted 10,000 steps per day, you’d have to dedicate roughly an hour and a half to two hours of your time to walking—a challenge for people with busy lives and jobs that require sitting for most of the day. So, where did the 10,000-steps-per-day recommendation come from and is it really that important?
A Step Back
The 10,000-step goal wasn’t created by a health organization or through extensive research. According to Harvard Medical School, it gained notoriety in Japan during the mid-1960s when a company created a pedometer that translated into “10,000 steps meter.” In other words, the number was chosen because it had a catchy name.
Still, 10,000 steps a day is recognized as a good number to reach when it comes to your health. The American Heart Association (AHA), for example, recommends that people try to work their way up to this goal. For those short on time, the AHA’s minimum recommendation is for adults to get at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity each week. A daily, 11-minute, briskly paced walking session can get you halfway to this objective.
Why not start today? You may soon discover that you have more time to walk than you originally thought.
Learn how to promote walking and walkable communities through the U.S. Surgeon General’s downloadable guide from cdc.gov.
