Decades-old advice to walk 10K steps a day gets new scrutiny

SEATTLE (KOMO) — Walking is good exercise, especially for your heart.

For decades, Americans have been told that the goal should be to walk 10,000 steps a day.

It was a good marketing message, but it turns out, it wasn’t based on credible science.

Researchers looked at previous studies that monitored the cardiovascular health of more than 16,000 adults who wore a step counter for a little more than six years.

“We found that the more steps you get, the lower your risk of heart disease,” said Amanda Paluch, an assistant professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and lead researcher on this meta-analysis.

Based on these results, moving, rather than sitting, is good for your cardiovascular system.

But experts say don’t get hung up on that 10,000 steps number.

Say you're not quite at 10,000 steps, and that might seem a little bit overwhelming to get to that goal, there [are] benefits earlier than that,” Paluch said. “If you're at 5,000 steps, getting to 6,000 could have a benefit, and then 6,000 getting to 7,000 may have a benefit. So those incremental increases in your steps could have benefits for your heart.

You don’t have to get all your steps at one time, it’s the daily total that counts.

Think about taking a longer route to get to the bus stop; opting to take the stairs instead of the elevator; or perhaps a walking meeting at work.

Anything that adds steps to your day, could lead to better heart health.