10,000 steps a day

why and HOW then?

Almost daily, the 10,000 steps topic comes up here in the editorial office. While one easily reaches the number, the other struggles to even reach half of it. Since the advent of step counters, the health app on your iPhone, and the fitbit many people keep track of how many steps they take each day. The guideline is often that at least 10,000 steps should be taken daily. But where does this number actually come from? Who determines that those 10,000 steps are enough? Why and especially HOW then?

No friend, it's not a made-up number. There is a whole logic behind those magical 10,000 steps that your fitbit expects from you daily if you want to lose a few pounds. In the 1960s, Japanese doctor Yoshiro Hatano indicated that if we move enough daily, we would be much healthier. So far, no math. But the good man researched how many steps we should actually take to meet our minimum amount of movement per day. Yoshiro discovered that at that time we averaged six thousand steps a day without really having to make an effort. But to actually be and stay healthy, you need to move for at least half an hour. And let half an hour of light movement equal about 4000 steps. Voila: 10,000 steps.

But why walk and not dust off the skates or take the bike? The Japanese have been walkers for centuries, and the first pedometer, the Manpo Kei (which literally means 10,000 steps), was already put on sale forty years ago.

Okay, all nice and good, but those 4000 steps still need to be taken. And that's easier than you think. So you don't have to get off the couch late tonight to complete that challenge with your colleague ...

• Park your car a few streets away from the office
• Go get coffee for your colleague
• Hold a ’walking lunch’
• Or go for a ten-minute walk after lunch
• If you need to make a phone call, do it while walking
• Drop off your car at home first after work and then go grocery shopping on foot
• Take public transport instead of the car. Walking to the bus and from the bus to your work adds a few extra steps
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator
• Forget something on purpose in the supermarket and walk back again. Ha.