Fitness trackers are fantastic but 10,000 steps is overrated

When Sonia Anderson got her first Fitbit step tracker, her poor pooch, Bronx, had no idea of all the steps that were coming. The device – which counts every step Anderson takes and displays those steps on an app – was a Christmas gift from her daughters.

At the time, Bronx, a Yorkshire terrier, was younger and could still manage the additional walks up and down trails.

More recently, as Bronx hit age 13, the dog started coming to dead stops during these long treks as if to ask: What’s going on here? Like many other folks 50 and older, the 63-year-old Anderson has been commandeered by the step-tracker craze that began about a decade ago.

Anderson has bought into the $26 billion global step tracker industry. It might also help her live longer, according to a recent Harvard University study. The study concluded that among older women, as few as 4,400 steps per day helped to lower mortality rates. With more steps per day, mortality rates decreased before leveling off at 7,500 steps, the study found.

In other words, the magic marketing number of 10,000 daily steps embraced by so many wearers of these devices – from Fitbits to Garmins to Samsungs to Apple Watches – may be about 2,500 steps more than necessary.

Truth be told, even the woman behind the study – who concedes that she, too, is enamored of her step tracker – can’t say how many steps are the right number for each walker.

“No one size fits all,” said I-Min Lee, an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and a professor at Harvard Medical School.

But no matter how many steps you take, merely wearing and using a fitness tracker – particularly for older women, older men and other people who tend to be somewhat inactive – “can be beneficial not only to your health but to your quality of life,” Lee said.

Of course, some folks go over the top with their trackers – and proudly post their more unusual stats on social media sites such as Reddit.

Like the vegan fitness buff who posted a video about logging 50,000 steps a day for five days. And the warehouse stocker who said that he slogged 20,000 steps a day on the job.

And there’s also the guy who credits his Fitbit for helping him slim his 40-inch waist to a svelte 34 inches.

Lee said she first got interested in wearable devices five years ago during a workplace program that promoted healthy lifestyles for doctors.

Lee received a free device and was asked to form a team of walkers.

Lee, 59, is hesitant to discuss her step count because she believes the sheer act of regularly exercising is far more important than the sum total of steps.

But after some cajoling she said she averages about 15,000 steps per day.

Studies show that 150 minutes of moderate activity, such as walking, can lower the risk of heart disease and stroke, improve sleep, help reduce weight gain and improve bone health.