Have you ever set a Daily Steps goal for yourself?

A goal to hit at least 10000 steps every day?

I’ve been doing it on and off.

But I never asked myself where that number came from

What was the recommendation that everyone should walk 10000 steps every day based on?

I had assumed it was based on some studies.

Today, I learned that this number comes from the name of a pedometer launched by a Japanese company in 1965. Their device was named Manpo-kei, which translates to “10000 steps meter”. 

I was amazed at how something so arbitrarily arrived at could become a benchmark that almost the whole world follows, and considers as a standard for good health.

I wonder: how many rules, standards and targets we follow today are similarly arbitrary. 

Based, not on data, but someone's belief, or even plucked out of thin air.

Definitely something I’m curious about.

2023/009 #atomicessay #ship30for30

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[1] I first learned this from an article by Dr Nandrolone, PhD published in Medium some time ago: Your Daily Steps Goal and Longevity: What Does Science Say?

[2] Further search led to an article in Harvard Health Publishing by Steve Calechman: 10000 Steps a day - or fewer? This article referenced the work of  Dr I-Min Lee, who dug out the source of this recommendation, as part of her own research into how daily steps correlate with health and mortality in older women.