Why 10K Steps Won’t Help You Live Longer

Why 10K Steps Won’t Help You Live Longer?

The push for you to reach 10K steps is actually diet culture marketing. What if less was more to live longer? David examines the origin, the myth, and the science around 10K steps. Plus, what actually helps. It’s all about less is more, one small bite.

Highlights of this episode:

• Origin of 10K Steps
• The Science of 10K Steps
• 10K Steps is #Fitspiration
• Misleading Health Apps and Tools
• Starting a Program Right for You

Episode Show Notes: 

[02:15] Why 10K Steps Won’t Help You Live Longer

Diet Culture Myths

Myths become “fact” when a trend is started. Influencers on social media keep pedaling their 10K steps. Does this really help anyone?

[05:41] Where did 10K Steps Come From?

The 10K Steps was a target goal of a Japanese company, Manpo-kei,” which translates to “10,000 steps meter.” They popularized the 10K steps through their pedometer product. Marketing probably advised that 10K was a nice big round number that would sound attractive and easy to remember. They weren’t wrong.

Now, wellness programs and other companies jump on the band wagon for folks to reach 10K steps. Even healthcare providers make assumptions that the 10K steps is based on evidence and recommend that to their patients.

Depending on your foot and leg size and your stride, 10K steps is roughly around 5 miles.

David is not arguing that walking is not beneficial for those in able bodies to do so. For the trendy go-getter perfectionists out there, or for those who see this stuff and feel guilty about their own performance, this information may offer some relief.

The real question is – 10K steps helps what for who?

[9:30] 10K Steps for Who Helps What?

While some people see improvements in their blood sugar, blood pressure, or body weight, others may not. There’s more to this stuff than calories in, calories out, and the number of miles you do or don’t walk. Again, there is no magic trick for any of these things.

The daily achievement may be helpful or harmful depending on you. For some folks, reaching 10K will not be helpful if what they really need is rest to recharge or if they are not getting adequate food to support this level of activity.

If you cannot do 10K steps for any reason, try to let go of this recommendation and remind yourself that it’s not an evidence-based recommendation that works for everyone. And that’s okay.

10K or 5 miles may not be possible for everyone depending on their responsibilities, physical ability diversity, health status, and neighborhood. The recommendation to walk 10K steps from a health provider may be inappropriate without knowing more about a person.

[10:09] The Science of 10K Steps

Due to the popularly of 10K steps, researchers examined the question, does this really help? The study titled Association of Step Volume and Intensity With All-Cause Mortality in Older Women explores this question.

Researchers took existing data from the Women’s Health Study to really examine the 10K claim. Part of understanding research is looking at the demographics of the participants. These were women of an average age of 72 and mostly white. Excluding women with heart disease, cancer, diabetes and less than excellent or good self-rated health.

The study was observational, meaning they collected health data at the beginning and at the end for four years.

The study reports, “participants in the bottom 25 percent of steps walked (average of 2,700 steps per day) were at greatest risk of death, with 275 women dying. Those who walked modestly more (average of 4,400 per day) were at 41 percent lower risk of death. Risk of death continued to decrease with more steps walked, up to 7,500 steps per day, after which risk leveled off. The team also found that for women who walked the same number of steps per day, the intensity — how fast or slow they walked — was not associated with risk of death.”

In summary, older women who took 4,400 steps per day had lower mortality than those taking 2,700; risk of death continued to decrease with more steps up to 7,500 steps per day before levelling off. So, after 7,500 steps for these women had no more benefit for their mortality.

So did these women likely did not need 10K steps to add to their longevity. The steps actually reached still not proof of causation. It’s just association, there’s a likely connection.

Also, there is a study about intensity of exercise benefits. We lost the study link, so we will try to update that later. In summary, the study found that 3 days fared better for health markers than 5-6 days a week of high intensity. Therefore, less is more, but consistency is helpful!

[19:16] 10K Step Myth is Part of a Larger Problem

The 10K steps myth is part of a larger problem. If you engage with social media, you likely have seen in the #Fitspiration trend. #Fitspiration is content material showcasing healthy lifestyle habits, particularly relating to exercise and diet, supposedly for community motivation.

Do these fitness social media posts really help the community motivation? This qualitative study provided several good points:

• Fitspiration posts perpetuate pervading body image ideals (very lean females and very muscular males), are sexually objectifying, and tend to emphasize appearance over health.
• Females who post Fitspirational content have higher scores on measures of disordered eating and compulsive exercise than control females.
• Fitspirational blogs (in which people write about their experiences of living a healthier lifestyle) provided evidence of problematic eating and negative attitude toward food and body image.

Also, have you heard of humblebragging? It’s bragging masked by a complaint or humility — as a common, conceptually distinct, and ineffective form of self-presentation.

One study stated that people choose to deploy humblebrags particularly when motivated both to elicit sympathy and impress others. Despite the belief that combining bragging with complaining or humility confers the benefits of each strategy, we find that humblebragging confers the benefits of neither, instead backfiring because it is seen as insincere. In other words, it’s simply annoying.

[23:00] Health Apps and Tools Won’t Help You Live Longer

Before you demoralize yourself about not tracking your lifestyle, remember that:

• There is no safety regulations against excessive activity. Remember, more is not better.
• There is no safeguard for those at risk for eating disorders or those with ED.
• It does not build your interoceptive awareness of what your body needs. Specific recommendations are ideal when they are discovered and made internally, not from a external authority source. Can you reconcile the data you have and feel?
• Reinforces the good and bad mentality about lifestyle behaviors, it’s healthism. Forever young. Moralizes the activity rather than feeling good from it.
• There is a lack of weight-inclusive apps and tools out there in the market currently.

[25:42] Questions to ask before starting a program

• What does health mean to you? Better person? Weight centric?
• Do you actually like it? Will this bring me joy?
• Will this be a temporary push before a burn out? Injuries risk. Othering when you cannot push to a goal.
• Will I be able to honor other aspects of health and my life if I don’t follow the plan exactly?
• Will I punish myself with food or any other way if I don’t stick to the plan?

[27:55] Improve Your Social Media 

Unfollow people who don’t add to your joy. Follow people who offer a weight-inclusive lens. Some of our favorites are:

• @claritydecatur
• @amberkarnesofficial
• @foodheaven
• @benourishedpdx
• @ iamtianadodson

Resources:

Get Your Copy of the book – One Small Bite: Anti-Diet Stories that Empower You To Build a Positive and Secure Relationship with Food

Get Unstuck Class

We had to postpone, but only for building up the awesomeness to come. There’s an early bird special. Classes are on Zoom, so no travel necessary. Read about it here: https://orozconutrition.com/courses/

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Chop the diet mentality; Fuel Your Body; and Nourish Your Soul!