For four years, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston have been exploring a fascinating question: how much exercise is really needed to improve our health? They studied 14,399 healthy women over the age of 62, with an average age of 72, and the results may change the way you think about exercise.
According to the researchers, it’s not the number of steps that counts, but the time you spend exercising. The idea that 10,000 steps is a magical limit is greatly exaggerated. Doctor Rikuta Hamaya, who led the study believes that the myth is no more than a myth.
– Movement looks different for everyone and almost all forms of movement are beneficial for our health, says Rikuta Hamaya to Daily Mail.
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Photo: Jessica Gow/TTNo scientific basis
The measure of 10,000 steps a day has long been considered the walker’s holy grail. But the number was picked up as a marketing ploy by a Japanese company trying to sell pedometers 60 years ago.
In connection with the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964, the Yamasa company launched a pedometer called Manpo-kei, which literally means “10,000 step meters” in Japanese.
The number itself was not grounded in any science. Instead, it was chosen simply because it was a powerful slogan.
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It is not optimal for health
The study showed that the risk of heart disease was reduced by as much as 40 percent for the women who walked 8,000 to 8,500 steps per day, compared to those who only walked 3,000 steps.
But those who spent 75 minutes of exercise per day reduced the risk of heart failure by the same amount. Rikuta Hamaya believes that you should stop worrying about counting steps – the important thing is that you move.
– This can consist of bike rides or swimming, where it is easier to monitor the training time. That is why it is important that the guidelines for physical activity offer several ways to reach goals, says Rikuta Hamaya to the Daily Mail.
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