Step Goals in Midlife

It can be confusing to know how many steps to aim for each day as the guidance has changed a few times. The 10,000 step target was a marketing ploy dreamt up by a Japanese manufacturer of pedometers but has since been supported by more than 300 academic sources. An evolutionary anthropologist then upped the ante suggesting we should strive for more - a study of postal workers in Glasgow found those who took more than 15,000 steps a day had cardio-metabolic health on a par with hunter-gatherers.

A more recent study however, followed over 2,000 middle-aged adults during a period of 11 years and found that those walking at least 7,000 steps a day had a 50-70% lower risk of mortality. An earlier study suggested an even lower step count - that 4,400 is enough to significantly lower mortality of older women. 

In midlife, if you’re someone who struggles to hit 10,000 steps a day, then don’t worry as it seems you can get some of the same life-lengthening benefits from 7,000. And as we age, this decreases again. Movement overall counts though - if you’ve done some rigorous gardening or an exercise class you can swap out a chunk of those steps! If you struggle to get to 7,000 steps, add small increments each week until you can establish some daily habits to increase the amount of steps you can fit into a normal day.