When my doctor first told me I was at risk for Type 2 Diabetes, he suggested I modify my diet a bit... and walk 10,000 steps a day. That has been my goal ever since, though I don't always achieve it.
My mother also heard about the health benefits of walking 10,000 steps - so she bought a pedometer and headed over to a nearby shopping center to make sure she did her daily 10,000!
But recently I came across a newspaper article that says there is no science behind the popular 10,000 step notion.
The idea of 10,000 was thought up by a Japanese advertising team in the 1960's.
In order to get people to be more physically active, ads encouraged them to walk 10,000 steps a day - or twice as much as they were then thought to be walking.
But here's the interesting clincher... According to this article, research on the benefits of walking actually show that we should be taking not 10,000 but
15,000 steps daily if we really want to see health benefits!
(Hmmm... I hate to say it, but I guess that's what my new goal will have to be!!)
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