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According to a new study, the 10,000-step target believed to be the ideal requisite for maximum health boost by fitness enthusiasts, is not enough. Experts stressed that instead people should do 15,000 steps of brisk walk per day, equivalent to a seven-and-a-half-mile hike.
Evolutionary anthropologist, professor Herman Potzner, of Duke University in North Carolina outlined the new findings in New Scientist magazine. "The 10,000-step target pursued by fitness-tracker enthusiasts [was] a marketing ploy dreamed up by a Japanese manufacturer of pedometers in 1965. While this target was 'a good start', 'We should strive for more'," Potzner said.
His research based on the health of hunter gatherers called Hadza in the Tanzanian savannah and postal workers in Glasgow, suggests the 'optimal dose' of daily exercise is about two hours a day or 15,000 steps.
"The Hadza's high activity levels meant they had 'the healthiest hearts on the planet and stay strong and spry into old age," Prof Potzner added. While it was found that postal workers in Glasgow who took more than 15,000 steps 'had cardio-metabolic health on a par with hunter-gatherers', despite living in a city known for its poor health.
Hence, according to Prof Potzner, humans need so much exercise because we have spent the vast majority of our evolutionary history being active - spending our days gathering food and hunting animals. Unless we mimic ancient habits, we are likely to succumb to heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.
A recent US study of almost 5,000 over-40s found people who met US minimum exercise guidelines of 25 minutes a day had half the chance of dying in the following seven years than those who did no exercise. Those who did 100 minutes a day cut their risk of early death by 80 per cent, reported Daily Mail.
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