SHOULD YOU WALK 10,000 STEPS/DAY?

Many of the newer electronic watches today have a built-in pedometer.  The Apple SE second generation includes this device, and is on sale at Amazon.com for $169.  The Ultra 2 costs $599.  Two years ago I bought a pedometer from Amazon for $16.  Use it regularly and haven't changed the battery yet.  I don't really need an Apple watch, for I have several cheap ones I've owned for decades, plus an Apple 16 Pro, which, of course, provides the time.

Among the applications of my pedometer.

• Golf.
• The average golfer playing 18 holes walks a little over six miles.  I was able to do this before the pandemic.
• Surprisingly enough, carrying your golf bag does not take a lot more energy than pushing/pulling a golf cart.  Much better to push than pull.
• 
  Eighteen holes of golf on a riding cart still involve 3-4 miles of walking.  Now that I'm 84, I ride, but still regularly count from 6000 to 7000 steps/round, which convert to 3 to 3.5 miles.
• Also, surprisingly, walking 18 holes on a golf course burns a lot more calories than a 48-minute stop-go game of basketball: 1759 to 450!!!
• 
  Tennis:  10,000 to 20,000 steps for two hours of play.
• Marathon: 52,400 steps.  Of course, when running, each step is longer, so that number should be reduced by around 40%.  The faster you run, the longer your step.
• 
  Once walked around 12,500 steps in Germany.  That's a little more than 6 miles.  I was absolutely exhausted.  Took me four hours with a lot of rest.  
• My normal day usually has me taking fewer than 3000 steps, or maybe 1.5 miles.  Not enough.

• 
  I noticed that my stamina was getting lower and lower.  At a physical exam 6 months ago, my doctor asked me to take a thyroid blood test, which turned out to be normal, and 500 mg/day of Vitamin B12.  My stamina significantly improved, as my Vitamin B12 level in by blood doubled.  Note that daily intake of this pill is only 2.4 microgram (mcg).  However, the prescription is either a 500 mcg or 1000 mcg.  Apparently, this significantly higher dosage, is normal.  I might some day focus on this subject.

• 
  And, incidentally, it is reported that the pedometer might have been invented by Leonardo da Vinci 500 years ago.  The word mile comes from the Latin milia passum, or one thousand paces, which confusingly enough, is actually 2000 adult steps (I'm average, for, being an engineer, I walked different venues and confirmed that it takes me to 2000 steps to walk a mile).
• Using this source for steps per mile:
• 5 feet tall  2557 steps.
• 5'6"  2286 steps.
• 6'  2095.
• 6'4" 1985.
• Maybe I should get a better accounting of my actual steps/mile, for I am not 6 feet tall.
• The standard requirement was once 10,000 steps, or 5 miles/day.  Reviewed were 88 different studies on how step counts were linked with the risk of developing various health conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, dementia, cancer, type-2 diabetes and depression.
• 
  Some history of from where came that 10,000 steps/day recommendation.
• The origin, it turns out, was a 1960s marketing campaign in Japan for a pedometer called the Manpo-kei, meaning 10,000 steps meter.
• Keep in mind that the Japanese character for 10,000 is:

• 
  Also around that time, Yoshiro Hatano of Kyushu University observed that the average Japanese person walked between 3500 and 5000 steps, and thus hypothesized that increasing this to 10,000 steps could decrease the risk of heart disease.
• Why Japan?
• Was the host of the 1964 Olympics.
• Tokyo doctor, Iwao Ohya was worried that citizens were now mostly using cars and other moving devices, and thus did not walk as much as before.

• 
  With engineer Jiro Kato and Yamasa Tokei Keiki company (watchmaker), in 1965 released this Manpo-Kei pedometer.  Ohya and Kato have since passed away, and the company has no idea why 10,000 steps was selected.  Certainly not by research.

• 
  So was that it?  Well, no.
• Yoshiro Hatano, a researcher at Tokyo Gakugei University, a self-confessed "exercise boy," was an interpretor for lectures of Western scientists in the later 70s.
• Hatano observed that Ralph Paffenbarger (right) of Stanford University said that burning 2000 calories/week had a protective effect against heart disease.  So how best to burn around 300 calories/day?
• Did some calculations, and, of course, this is about the energy used for 10,000 steps.

• 
  So, anyway, exercise spokespeople picked  up on the above and promoted the 10,000 step routine.
• In the 70s, David Bassett Jr from the University of Tennessee noted that inactive people only walked 4000-6000 steps, while the more active did twice that, so splitting 8000-12,000 steps provides an easily rememberable 10,000 steps as a nice round number.  Took him till 1996 to do some research, and reported that the Yamasa digital pedometer was especially accurate.  Hmmm....
• 70,000 steps per week would frighten people, so the media settled on 10,000 steps/per day as an ideal number to maintain good health.
• Was this science?  No.
• In 2020 the following prevailed.  Note that the 10,000 steps recommendation was not for everyone.

• 
  So more recently, as reported by Lancet, those who walked 7000 steps were healthier than the 2000 steps group.  Any distance more than 3.5 miles did not help much.
• However, for the active, 10,000 steps might be still good.

So what about older people?  From How Many Steps Should A Senior (80-Year-Old) Walk Each Day?

• The sweet spot appears to be 4500 to 7500 steps for adults 61 and older.
• 10,000-15,000 steps/day for youths 4-17.
• 7000-10,000 steps/day for adults 18-59.
• Sedentary individuals who take under 2700 steps/day are at greater risk for mortality.

Time magazine looked at "Fart Walking."  

• Also known as an after-dinner stroll of at least 5 minutes of moderate paced walking within about an hour of finishing a meal, although longer is better.
• Apparently, this trend is having a moment.
• Increases levels of endorphins, dopamine and serotonin in the body.
• Aids digestion, lowers the risk of diabetes, reduces bloating, improves stress, helps sleep quality and eliminates digestive gases.

A Trump cartoon.

There is an unusual cyclonic storm approaching Hawaii, but will head north of the islands.  Henriette was at 45 MPH earlier today, has now strengthened to 50 MPH and will attain hurricane strength north of the Maui on August 11 (Monday).  The waters get cooler as these storms head north, and every one I've seen in the past has weakened taking this path.  First time I've seen actual strengthening.

In the Western Pacific is Tropical Storm 16 predicted to reach Category 3 strength and head for Taiwan and Hong Kong.

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