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You won’t keep fit by doing 10,000 steps a day.
Did you think that 10,000 steps a day were enough to keep you healthy?
We will have to move a bit more than this according to a new study. Experts have said that we would need to do 15,000 steps a day which is equivalent to a seven and a half mile hike. In order to get the maximum health boost, and that is only if the pace is brisk.
Studies looked at the health of hunter-gatherers in the Tanzanian savannah and Glaswegian postmen. It was found that the benefits of exercise rise the more we do. They only plateau at a very high level of exercise.
It was said that the 10,000 step target was a marketing ploy and was dreamed up by Japanese manufacturers of pedometers in 1965.
The research suggests that the optimal amount of exercise a day is around two hours or 15,000 steps. But people need to walk fast enough to get their heart beating faster than normal.
For people who get fed up of walking the good news is that having a sauna counts as exercise too. The intense temperature drives up the heart rate. The research found that having a sauna has a similar physiological effect as cycling.
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