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You may have seen somewhere that the goal you should be hitting if you want to live a healthier life is 10,000 steps a day, but that number actually came from an old company in Japan in the 1960’s and not a scientific study. Recent studies have shown the number to be lower than that and somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 steps but even that is not a hard number you need to hit. Dr. Arthur Caplan, Professor of Bioethics at NYU Langone, spoke with Mendte in the Morning about that 10,000 steps goal and why he doesn’t like it.
“10,000 steps is about 5 ½ miles; that would be a lot to walk every day and at an average pace you’d have to walk for 2 hours,” Dr. Caplan told host Larry Mendte. “I think it discourages people; I think people give up or they just say I can’t go far so I’ll do nothing.”
Dr. Caplan has some much more simple advice for those who are looking to improve their health: “Walk as far as you can, when you can. Try to do it, you don’t have to worry about 10,000 steps, 7,000 steps, just do some movement.”
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