The idea that “10,000 steps a day” is essential for health took hold after the name of a pedometer sold in Japan in the 1960s — the “manpo-kei” (literally “10,000-step meter”) — caught on, and it was never backed by solid scientific evidence. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare promoted the 10,000-step target in its 2000 “Health Japan 21” initiative, but the third phase of the plan, launched in 2024, lowered the guideline to 8,000 steps for adults and 6,000 for the elderly. On the forum, some argued that “walking too much just wrecks your knees” and that “other exercises like squats are more efficient,” while others countered that “for elderly people, walking is about maintaining physical function, not losing weight.”
“You have to walk 10,000 steps a day for your health.” “My blood sugar is high, so it’s important to aim for that many steps.” Doesn’t everyone assume this? In fact, this nice round number has no scientific basis. It became widely known thanks to the “manpo-kei” pedometer sold in Japan in the 1960s.
The product name was so clever and memorable that it’s said to have spread on its own. That said, the government also pushed the “10,000 steps a day” campaign, promoting it as part of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s 2000 national health initiative, “Health Japan 21.”
Source: news.livedoor.com / Original article here
Something to do with building maintenance work (biru-men)?
Joints always do
Fat is forever by your side
You mean the idiots who wreck their joints doing strength training?
My immune system betrayed me too.
Muscle rubbing against bone and joint is what triggers the nerve pain.
It's the muscle-joint combo that leaves you too sore to walk.
s://i.imgur.com/DQoxfAY.png
Maybe drop that and go with something fact-based instead?
You have to put it on, no question
Get one about 30cm wide
Required sodium intake varies depending on lifestyle and type of work,
but everyone just went with "salt is bad, period."
Plenty of people got fooled and died of heatstroke or water intoxication (electrolyte imbalance) because of it.
Same deal here — might be fine while you're young,
but old folks doing it will wreck their knees too.
Also, the typical people who wreck their knees
tend to be overweight or tall.
With longer legs, leverage puts more force on the joint (like a lever).
So tall, overweight people hurt their knees, huh
Come to think of it, even Ohtani's getting a belly now
Picking up trash or pulling weeds would be more productive, right?
What about the future, though?!
Overuse it and it breaks, don't use it and it rusts.
It feels rough because you're chasing 8,000 steps with no real goal in mind.
Just doing your shopping at a decently big supermarket nearby
racks up 1,000 or 2,000 steps easily.
Walking to a park or library that's 30 minutes away one-way would probably do it
and if you can relax at a café on the way back, it's even easier to keep up.
the food after tastes amazing
Which ironically makes you fat
The basic rule is to exercise right after eating
You need to start within 5 minutes
Wait 30 minutes and the effect is weak
Don't you get sleepy after eating though?
Walking to go eat is the real answer
You don't have to worry about parking even at lunchtime, and solo diners can usually get a seat
Plus after eating you're forced to start walking again anyway
You get trained just from transferring subway lines
Thanks, Tokyo Metro
In a car-dependent area, walking pretty much only happens grocery shopping and dog walks
No, exercise comes first
It's well established that not exercising leads to cognitive decline
Elderly people walk to maintain physical function, not to lose weight lol
That thing about how every animal gets about 500 million breaths and 2 billion heartbeats in a lifetime?
doing 2 minutes of squats twice a day (morning and afternoon) is the ultimate move
No need to walk long distances at all
Yeah, squats alone might really be enough
Once squats build a bit of muscle and your leg joints loosen up properly, maybe add light jogging
There's data showing aerobic exercise significantly lowers cancer risk, so you should still do something low-impact on the knees, like a cross-trainer
That'll still make you fat if your diet isn't in check too
Cycling puts a lot less strain on your joints and lower back, so it's better
Poor Shohei Hino… (the TV personality famous for cycling around Japan on his show)
Cycling seems good, but
it raises your odds of dying in an accident
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
The “10,000 steps a day” guideline is said to have simply spread from the brand name of the “manpo-kei” pedometer released in 1965, and it was never backed by medical evidence from the start. The health ministry’s “Health Japan 21” campaign, a national health initiative launched in 2000, revised its step guideline in the third phase starting 2024 to 8,000 steps for adults and 6,000 for the elderly. This reflects research findings that “going beyond 10,000 steps adds little additional health benefit while only increasing strain on the joints” — though the actual strain on the knees varies a lot by body weight, posture, and walking form, so exceeding 8,000 steps isn’t uniformly dangerous. On the forum too, many comments emphasized exercise intensity, diet management, and maintaining muscle strength over the step count itself, reflecting skepticism toward a simple numerical step target.
※This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “Health Ministry: Why Do We Assume We “Have to Walk 10,000 Steps a Day for Our Health”? It Actually Just Wrecks Your Knees.”
