Irish academic says ‘medical advice' to get 10k steps per day is a 'gimmick'
An Irish academic has said that the 'medical advice' to get 10,000 steps per day is a 'gimmick', not based on science.
Niall Moyna, a professor of clinical exercise physiology at DCU told The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk that it began as a marketing ploy.
'Back 60-years ago, a Japanese company at the time of the Tokyo Olympic Games came up with the first wearable step counter.
'The name that they used for the counter meant '10,000 step metre', that's when it came into popular culture and has been there for 60-years with no empirical evidence to back it up,' he said.
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Professor Moyna said that it has gained popularity in recent years because smartphones make it very easy to track how many steps you take.
'If you do nothing on a daily basis, you sit around at home, you're ambulating, going to the bathroom, making a cup of tea, nothing else, you would take around 1,500 to 2,000 steps a day,' he said.
'So, we tend to use 2,000 as a reference and anything above that, you're going to get a health benefit.
'Basically, if you take an extra 517 steps beyond that 2,000, you actually get an 8% reduction in the risk of dying from mortal causes.
'Then the sweet zone, what's the optimum dose that we would need to get, what's the maximum risk reduction with the least effort, it's extra, around 6,700 steps.
'That's around 8,000 steps per day, and you're getting a 60% reduction in dying from all causes.'
'It doesn't matter what the disease is, whether it's cardiovascular, dementia, diabetes.
'It seems to be the same effect - do something and you get enormous benefits, but if you go beyond a certain number, you don't get anywhere near the same benefit.'
He said people will have health benefits if they take between 2,000 and 5,000 steps per day.
'I would advise to anyone out there to take 5,000 to 6,000 steps per day, most days of the week, you're going to get most of the benefits you can gain from walking.'
'Everything beyond that, that's a bonus.'
Monya added that there is evidence to suggest that as you get older, you need to take fewer steps.
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