10,000 steps: myth or fact?

Ten thousand steps, it seems like the new holy grail when it comes to health and weight loss. But is that actually true? We at Happy Bodies went to investigate.

Manpo Kei

The story goes that Yoshiro Hatano, a scientist at Japan's Kyushu University of Health and Welfare, once came up with the advice to take ten thousand steps a day. He predicted that the Japanese would follow the Americans in terms of lifestyle and in 1965 he invented the Manpo-Kei, a pedometer. 'Man' means ten thousand, 'po' means steps and 'kei' stands for meter: a ten thousand pedometer. Ten thousand step walking associations quickly sprang up all over Japan and years later, in 2015, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare adopted the advice of ten thousand steps a day. However, no hard evidence has ever been found for this recommendation.

Sitting is the new smoking

So let it go, that advice? Definitely not! The Health Council advises us to exercise moderately intensively for about 150 minutes a week. In addition, it is advisable to do muscle-strengthening exercises twice a week. Also make sure that you do not sit still for too long. Professor of neuropsychology and movement sciences Erik Scherder is also an advocate of moderately intensive exercise. In one of his guest blogs for health insurer Zilveren Kruis he writes: An hour on your bottom is five minutes sooner dead. Physical inactivity is the fourth cause of death worldwide and that makes sitting the new smoking, according to him.

What is moderate intensity exercise?

But what exactly is moderately intensive exercise? That is different for everyone, we read on the website of the Dutch Heart Foundation, but exercise is most effective when your heart starts beating faster and you get warm. That can be done by a brisk walk, but you can also go cycling, swimming or dance. A pedometer can definitely motivate, but it is certainly not the holy grail. If you exercise with the Milon circle, you train your entire body in two times 35 minutes every ten days and that is also possible if you are a bit older or suffer from ailments. If you also take the stairs once more, do some shopping by bike, go for a walk every now and then or jump in the pool every now and then, you are well on your way.