“How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?”
You likely remember the original 1970s television commercial of a boy questioning three different animals about how many licks it takes to get to the center of the popular sucker. The wise old owl takes three licks before biting into it and retuning the empty stick into the boy’s hand.
But how many licks does it really take to get to the center? According to a group of Purdue University engineering students – an average of 252. This got us thinking – who comes up with all of this conventional wisdom? Twenty-one days to create a habit, two minutes for teeth brushing, four minutes and three flips for the perfect pancake and 10,000 steps per day to ensure a healthy lifestyle.
Since the inception of the wearable step counter, people have been told that 10,000 steps per day is the minimum goal to improve their longevity. Where did this number come from? Is a minimum of 10,000 steps per day necessary?
The answer may surprise you.
While the World Health Organization, American Heart Foundation and U.S. Department of Health & Human Services all gradually adopted 10,000 steps as a daily activity recommendation, the validity of this number is increasingly being called into question.
In the 1960s, a Japanese company called Yamasa created a product that served as the archetype for the modern-day pedometer. The manpo-kei was brought to market in anticipation of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics to promote movement. In Japanese, “man” means 10,000, “po” means steps and “kei” means meter. The 10,000-steps meter marketing campaign was the impetus for what has been considered fitness gospel for the past five decades.
Since this 50-year-old doctrine didn’t actually originate from a bona fide science lab, does the number actually hold up against the science?
A recent study by Harvard Medical School suggests that what we’ve been told for the past 50 years is just a myth.
A decreased risk for early deaths in older women was seen in subjects who accrued only 5,000 steps per day, according to the Harvard study published in the Journal of American Medical Association Internal Medicine.
Over the course of four years, 16,741 women ranging in ages 62-101 wore trackers to measure their step count and speed during daily activity for at least seven consecutive days. The research subjects were required to report to researchers about their lifestyle, diet and medical histories. Of the group, 504 women died during the four-year time period.
Researchers found that women who averaged about 4,400 steps a day had significantly lower mortality rates than those who took only about half as many daily steps. The most active group – 7,500 steps or beyond – had a decreased mortality rate, although no added benefit was recorded with hitting the 10,000 mark.
“I always tell people to start with a base,” says Dr. Phil Heit, executive director and founder of Healthy New Albany. “I don’t care how far you can go. Just start out with a base to see how comfortable you feel at a certain speed.”
It’s important to realize that if a person has been living a sedentary lifestyle and suddenly tries to hit 10,000 steps a day without working up to it, they may risk injury.
“I don’t go by numbers. I go by distance and some of the research shows 15,000 steps is actually the baseline we should be targeting,” says Heit.
It’s noteworthy that this particular study only looked a mortality and not quality of life. There is much more research to be done. Other recent studies, such as the University of Warwick’s, published in The International Journal of Obesity, produced results that indicate we may all be stepping ourselves short with the recommended 10,000 steps. The research showed that individuals who covered at least 15,000 steps a day had normal body mass indexes, waistlines and metabolic profiles.
The most accurate step counters on the market include:
Yamax Digi-Walker SW-200
New Lifestyles 2000
Walk4Life LS 2525
Omron
Kenz Lifecorder
Yamasa Skeletone
Walking the Walk
How many steps it takes to walk around the world: 65,740,092
How many steps the average American takes per day: 5,000
How many steps to get to the Moon: 1,962,116,129
The longest walk around the world was completed by a former neon-sign salesman, Jean Beliveau. He walked 46,600 miles around 64 countries. The trip took him 11 years.
The U.S. walks the least of any industrialized nation.
It would take 225 million years to walk one light-year at the pace of a 20-minute mile. One light-year is about 5.9 trillion miles.
Nathan Collins is managing editor. Feedback welcome at ncollins@cityscenemediagroup.com.
