What is the deal with trying to get 10,000 steps every day? To be completely frank, the number is an arbitrary one. It was chosen in 1965 in Japan as a target for a pedometer called “Manpo-kei”, which translates to “ten thousand steps meter” in English. It was a marketing tactic for the gadget that was, for whatever reason, accepted as the universal goal for the amount we move around on our feet each day.
In truth, we each have an ideal target that may be exactly that amount or nowhere near it. However, if you haven’t been moving around too much and you start making this your goal every day, then trying to get 10,000 steps every day can help you to enjoy a spectrum of benefits that you may not be feeling from your more sedentary lifestyle.
The 10,000 steps every day goal is typically considered to be a great jumping-off point for the average healthy American. By starting there, you can learn more about your appropriate activity level and can adjust your daily stepping goal to become a better fit. Maybe you’ll need to shave off a few thousand at the beginning until you build up your fitness level. Perhaps you need twice that much because you’re already quite active. The key here is to get started. It’s always recommended that you speak with your doctor to help discover exactly where you should be aiming with your daily fitness.
Once you get started with 10,000 steps per day on a regular basis, particularly after you’ve been quite sedentary, you’ll start to notice the following overall benefits.