There's nothing magical about the number 10,000.
一万这个数字没什么神奇的。
In fact, the idea of walking at least 10,000 steps a day for health goes back decades to a marketing campaign launched in Japan to promote a pedometer. And, in subsequent years, it was adopted in the US as a goal to promote good health. It's often the default setting on fitness trackers, but what's it really based on?
事实上，为了健康每天至少走一万步的想法可以追溯到几十年前日本一个计步器的营销活动。在随后的几年里，它成为一种促进健康的目标在美国被采纳。健身追踪器的默认设置也是一万步，但这背后真正的原理是什么呢？
"The original basis of the number was not scientifically determined," says researcher I-Min Lee of Brigham and Women's Hospital.
布里格姆女子医院的研究员李依敏说：“这个数字的最初依据没有科学上的验证。”
She was curious to know how many steps you need to take a day to maintain good health and live a long life, so she and her colleagues designed a study that included about 17,000 older women. Their average age was 72. The women all agreed to clip on wearable devices to track their steps as they went about their day-to-day activities.
她很想知道人们每天需要走多少步才能保持健康和长寿，所以她和同事们设计了一项有1.7万名老年女性参与的研究。她们平均72岁，这些女性都同意在日常活动中佩戴可穿戴设备，跟踪自己的步数。
It turns out that women who took about 4,000 steps per day got a boost in longevity, compared with women who took fewer steps. "It was sort of surprising," Lee says.
结果表明，每天走大约4000步的女性比每天步数少于4000步的女性长寿。“这有点令人惊讶，”李依敏说。
In fact, women who took 4,400 steps per day, on average, were about 40 percent less likely to die during the follow-up period of about four years compared with women who took 2,700 steps. The findings were published Wednesday in?JAMA Internal Medicine.
事实上，与每天走2700步的女性相比，平均每天走4400步的女性在大约四年的随访期间死亡的可能性要低40%。该研究结果于上周三（5月29日）发表在《美国医学会内科杂志》上。
Another surprise: The benefits of walking maxed out at about 7,500 steps. In other words, women who walked more than 7,500 steps per day saw no additional boost in longevity.
另一个意外是：步行的好处在7500步左右达到了极限。换句话说，每天步行超过7500步的女性寿命并没有进一步增加。
"I love this study. I think it's really good news for women who may not be particularly active," says Kathleen Janz, who studies how physical activity influences health at the University of Iowa. She was not involved in this study.
“我喜欢这个研究。我认为这对没有特别积极锻炼的女性来说是个好消息，”爱荷华大学研究体育活动如何影响健康的凯瑟琳·扬茨说。她没有参与这项研究。
Janz, who helped shape the new federal exercise recommendations released last November, says the message that comes from this study is that older women can benefit from just light walking.
扬茨协助了去年11月新的联邦运动建议的发布。她说，这项研究告诉我们，老年妇女可以从轻松适度的步行中获益。
"They didn't need to go to the gym or invest in a personal trainer or exercise equipment," she says. All they had to do was walk.
她说：“她们不需要去健身房，也不需要花钱请私教或购买健身器材。”她们只要走走路就好。
And Janz says that's encouraging.
扬茨说，这个发现令人鼓舞。
"To me, this study suggests there's more benefit to light activity than we were previously thinking there might be," she says.
她说：“对我来说，这项研究表明，轻度活动的好处比我们之前认为的要多。”
Of course, the researchers point out, they would like to know much more about how walking may affect other health parameters such as quality of life and memory and cognitive function. It's possible that walking a greater number of steps each day could influence these outcomes.
当然，研究人员指出，他们想知道更多关于步行如何影响其他健康参数的信息，如生活质量、记忆力和认知功能。每天走更多步可能会影响这些结果。
Another thing Janz notes is that this study only measures walking. It didn't measure things that many of us do that don't require steps, things like gardening, swimming or biking. And it's safe to assume some women in the study were doing these other things that can influence health as well.
扬茨还注意到，这项研究只研究了步行。它没有测量我们很多人做的不需要步行的事情，比如园艺、游泳或骑自行车。可以肯定的是，这项研究中的一些女性也在做这些会影响健康的事情。
And Janz says to remember the federal exercise guidelines call for 150 minutes per week of moderate physical activity, which includes all kinds of daily movement, not just steps.
扬茨说，要记住联邦运动指南要求每周进行150分钟的适度体育活动，包括各种日常运动，而不仅仅是步行。
So, if 10,000 steps has been feeling out of reach to you, it may be time reset those factory settings on your fitness tracker. Instead, try to hit at least 4,400 a day, along with daily activities that you enjoy. And stick to it.
所以，如果你觉得1万步已经遥不可及，那么是时候在你的健身追踪器上重置这些出厂设置了。你可以试着每天至少走4400步，再做些你喜欢的日常活动，并坚持下去。
本文来源：中国日报网
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