I Stopped Walking 10,000 Steps! And Here’s Why

Many of us have smartwatches or fitness apps on our phones that count the number of steps we do. Usually, we aim to reach at least 10,000 steps a day, which we are often reminded is the target to help improve our health. This target is an arbitrary number that seems to have come from a Japanese marketing campaign for a pedometer. However, it is now included in daily activity targets by popular smartwatches, such as Fitbit.

When trying to get more active, it can often be demoralizing when you look at your step count and realize you haven’t reached that goal of 10,000 steps. It can even be demotivating, especially in times where many of us are still working from home and only manage to walk from our makeshift offices to the kitchen to get our (usually) unhealthy snacks.

Here’s what you should do

The good news for everyone is that the evidence is building to suggest that accomplishing less than 10,000 steps is still good for your health. The most recent large study, led by the University of Massachusetts, followed more than 2,000 middle-aged adults from different ethnic backgrounds over 11 years. The researchers found that those…