Is 10,000 steps a day too much?

Sometimes I walk 10,000 or more, it was 16,000 the other day, other days, like today, it’s 2,600.
It all depends on what I am doing. Just keep moving, don’t sit for too long, get up and walk even if it’s just indoors.

My son suggested that I join a local walking group. When he visited me we decided to see the group in action. I did realise that they would be elderly, as I am, but how we laughed as they strolled so, so slowly up the road, nattering away. We did laugh and I didn't join them. It was more a social group than a walking one. Good for them, though.

I think we should all just try to move as much as we can and that putting a figure of 10k or the latest 7K steps per day is just a figure plucked out of the air for one reason or another. Imo it's just another example of red wine is good for you this week and maybe not the next.

JackyB

It has long been disproved that 10000 steps is the required amount. As MOnica says, it is an arbitrary number thought up by the marketing department of a Japanese company. Common sense should make us realise that one size can't possibly fit all.

Having said that, when I see the number of old folks (including my parents and those of various friends and acquaintances) who have had falls and gone to hospital where they picked up infections and deteriorated rapidly, often eventually never leaving the hospital, I am sure that it is very important we walk and exercise our leg muscles to prevent such falls in later life.

Most recent advice I’ve read says short but fast walks are best. For several years I used to walk as fast as I comfortably could but only for 30 minutes every day. Surprising how far you can get! Then my Mum needed me more and I stopped doing it.

Sure I read in the media quite recently that there is no need to aim for 10000, half is sufficient. Also weight type exercise added on really benefits eg gettibg up and down from seating without assistance, going up and down stairs
Cycling is viewed as being better than walking ( includes the weight/pressure) but not all want to go cycling other than on a cycle machine. Variety of exercise seems to be thing.

Most towns have weekly healthy walking groups led by someone employed by the council. There are about 8 different groups in my area. All free.

Not too strenuous, for about an hour. Or there’s parkrun on a Saturday where walking is allowed.

Just realised this thread was started in 2023 and I commented on it then! However I recently read something about inflammaging - inflammation which affects us as we age. It seems that people walking around 7,000 steps a day have 50% less inflammation than those walking about 5,000 and that those walking 10,000 had no inflammation. That would suggest there may be benefit in aiming for 10,000 steps. Having said that my Fitbit is set at a target of 8,000 steps which I often don't achieve, though I sometimes exceed on a more active day. After reaching 70 and being retired I find it harder to keep it up every day, especially after I had a knee problem a year or so ago which stopped me walking at all for a couple of weeks. I lost fitness during that time and am still trying to regain that. For a while I went on the half hour weekly walk with the older participants instead of the hour walk I had been doing. In the recent hot weather I've gone back to doing the half hour as an hour in the heat was too much. I'm just trying not to beat myself up about my failures and do what I can without exhausting myself. Every little helps! I try to pop upstairs sometimes for no reason other than to register some 'floors' on my Fitbit! The most 'floors' I ever achieved required little effors as I was travelling on escalators with my grandson when he didn't want to go in the lift with his mum and baby sister! It seems my Fitbit lies sometimes!

Do what you can Jo , no need to beat yourself up.
As for fitbits I have one, it’s getting on now but every morning before I get out of bed there’s 40 or 50 steps already registered, so I don’t take too much notice.

As 4allweknow says, wandering round the house with a can of beans in each hand helps strengthen as well as getting up and sitting down, without holding on .

My DH has his mobile phone step counter on permanently and usually exceeds 10,000. He ignores my observation that most of his "strides" are less than 3 inches and are technically "shuffles"% -and he has to take a rest after about 30 steps. He proudly tells his friends, the doctor and the physiotherapist that he walks 10,000 steps a day and refuses to let me inform them otherwise. I despair.

I have a young dog who needs 2 one hour walks a day , so I normally clock up well over 10,000 steps normally 14,000 to 15,000. But I’m 66 and fit and healthy . I do yoga and weights as the yoga is good for balance and flexibility and the weights good for bone density. Balance is often the cause of falls in other people . My DM is 89 and has never done any exercise in her life , apart from at school . She’s broken both ankles due to osteoporosis and had numerous falls due to poor balance , and arthritic knees . I’m determined I’m not going to be like that .
Mums physio recommends standing on one leg doing the washing up or cleaning teeth . And getting out of a chair using your leg muscles rather than your arms and hands .

MissChateline Easy for you to say if you don’t suffer from arthritis. I walked 6000 steps last Sunday at an airshow and am still paying the price. THR in a few weeks.

If you are waiting for a new hip then you did very well
glammagran. Hope you are feeling better today.
The operation will make a huge difference.
Good luck. 🤞

silverlining48

If you are waiting for a new hip then you did very well
glammagran. Hope you are feeling better today.
The operation will make a huge difference.
Good luck. 🤞

Thanks for your kind wishes.

We do our steps in two walks a day. Morning and late afternoon. You can take shorter walks which are beneficial to keep you active.

You just need to be as active as you can. I cannot think of anything worse for your body and mind than counting steps. Keeping `fit` is easy, just stand when you can, walk from job to job in your home, climb stairs, keep busy on favourite hobbies to exercise your mind as well as your body

Get up and down from crouching positions, to use muscles that will easily weaken. Squeeze objects, like rubber balls, in your hands. Use rubber bands to help with muscle strength

This obsession with steps is pure nonsense, I am often out cycling and pass dog walkers out counting steps, yet all they do is amble, same with the walkers I see on the `keep fit` walks. Might as well amble at home. If out, choose a circuit with an incline upwards

OP don`t get complacent about so called `normal` blood pressure via medication. That is not normal bp, it is damped down by the medication. A good bp is one that is normal without medication, mine is 123/65 and I take no medication of any sort but I do keep moving almost all day long and never count steps. My age is 77

My life is busy, not through boredom nor being widowed but because I like being mentally and physically active and I love being healthy. Good health does not just happen, nor does it come via medication and certainly not through counting steps, nor by going to the treadmill at a gym

Whitewavemark2 is right

Cholesterol and blood pressure are often inherited. I have naturally good cholesterol and a teenager's BP, 115 over 65, or roundabout. And I count myself very lucky.

I am overweight, but I walk a lot more than 10.000 steps a day, around the house, up and down stairs, around garden, and about 2 hours fast walks in woods and very uneven conditions. Have had a very challenging time with my bad knee, replaced 6 years ago, and severely damaged in a car accident when I was 19. But touch wood, NO pain for the last few months and walking has become a true pleasure again.

I am a couple of stones overweight but recently lost a stone, but more to go.
I don’t take any regular medication, my heart rate at 50 and blood pressure 120=70 have always been likened to that of an Olympic athlete, except of course I am not.
Karmalady is right, it’s also important to introduce other t hi ngs too like weights and strength. I just enjoy walking. I am 77 too.

Gosh, this is an old post. I’m now 70 (and a half). I’ve always been active and made myself do at least 10,000 steps a day. I have a personal trainer and do at least two classes a week where I keep up with many half my age. Currently away in my camper van and just relaxing having walked 10 miles along the coastal path.
I’ve always maintained that if you stop using what you have then you lose the ability to do these things.

My mums 89 ....she did 8k today ....think thats her limit