How many steps do we need to take each day to stay healthy?

That walking is a healthy exercise has been known for a long time, and the most important thing is that it is something that almost everyone can do with great ease, all you need is a pair of shoes.

And I also know quite a few people who have a way to control the number of steps they take during a day (mobile phone, smartwatch, bracelet, etc…), and almost all of them have the goal of taking 10,000 steps a day. And some follow it with particular rigor, especially if they are retired.

On more than one occasion I have discussed with some of them the suitability of the figure of 10,000 steps, and noone has been able to respond with a minimum of reasoned information.

After doing some research, I came across information from a professor at the University of Massachusetts named Amanda Paluch, who has spent time studying how many steps a person should take on a daily basis to stay healthy.

And this nice woman concludes that an average-aged person who takes 7,000 steps a day reduces the causes of premature death by between 50% and 70%. And that taking more steps hardly reduces the risk.

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay 

 The study was carried out working with more than 2,000 participants over a little more than 10 years, and it was published not long ago.

And today I reflect on this subject, although I know that it is not important at all, due to the ease with which we assume certain “truths” (such as the 10,000 steps) that do not have any type of study to back them up. And people tell them to each other without any basis to support it.

On average, 10,000 steps represent about 8 km for a man and 7 km for a woman, depending on the height of each one, and that means walking for just over an hour.

The "important" thing, in my opinion, is that we take part of our time to carry out a healthy activity such as walking, for a reasonable period of time to be satisfied with ourselves.

Some days there will be more steps and others less, depending on our desire and our time, without necessarily having to "measure" the number of steps we take, and knowing that walking for around an hour is enough to help us feel a little better. .

Without measurements and without paranoia.