One of the mantras that has been repeated on numerous occasions is that yes or yes you have to take 10,000 steps a day in order to enjoy good health. Our activity bracelets are partly to blame, since they even give us prizes for reaching this goal or remind us that we have not managed to reach it. But this number was born as a marketing strategy in Japan in the 60s and now science is making more and more nuances with respect to this figure to give more importance to how it works.
The study. The most recent evidence we have in this regard is found published in the prestigious magazine The Lancet in July 2025, which combined 57 studies and analyzed 31 different cohorts of people in order to reach the most robust conclusion possible.
The results. In short, we can affirm that the mantra of taking 10,000 steps is more than dismantled, since already reaching 7,000 steps a day means having 47% less mortality from any cause, and 25% less risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease compared to those who only take 2,000 steps a day on average.
This is what different reference organizations in the world of cardiology also point out, such as the American College of Cardiology, who claim that the health benefit follows a curve in which the biggest drop in mortality risk occurs before reaching 10,000 stepssetting the new goal at 7,000-8,000 steps per day.
It’s not worth the walk. For many, all the steps on the physical activity counter are the same, whether they are the first ones in the morning to go to the bathroom or the ones we take while window shopping at the mall. But the reality is that they are not ‘productive’ steps, since to reach these 7,000 steps that do not ensure a reduction in mortality, the intensity of the walk matters much more than the number.
How to get here. Here Harvard Health sums it up perfectly aim that walking becomes a moderate aerobic exercise only when we increase the intensity until we notice a higher pulse and more demanding breathing. To get an idea, if we are here, we can put ourselves in the situation where we can still speak, but only in short phrases.
If we want to have a figure on the table, we can stick to reaching 100 steps per minute, which can be around 4.5 km per hour if we also want to do it on a treadmill in the gym.
It’s important. Doing these steps daily is important, since it has been shown that adequate walking speed is directly linked to a significant reduction in cases of heart attack, stroke and heart failure, especially in people who already suffer from hypertension.
Images | Drazen Zigic in Magnific
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