Magic number was invented in a clever Japanese marketing ploy after the 1964 Olympics… and six decades later there's still 'NO evidence' to back it
But where did the magical number even come from?
You would be forgiven for assuming it was borne out of decades of painstaking research into the precise number of steps needed to keep our body in tip-top condition.
It was, however, a clever marketing ploy by a Japanese company trying to sell pedometers in the wake of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. At that time, there was an increased focus on fitness in the host nation and firms had tried to capitalise on the craze surrounding the Games.
One campaign involved the marketing of Yamasa's pedometer called the Manpo-kei, which literally means '10,000 steps metre' in Japanese.
But the arbitrary figure was never grounded in science. Instead, the number was selected because the benchmark was a nice, round memorable figure.
Professor Tom Yates, one of the world's leading experts in the field of physical activity and sedentary behaviour at the University of Leicester, told MailOnline: 'There was no evidence for it to start with.'