https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66440424

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It has long been touted that 10,000 steps a day is the magic number you need to stay fit and healthy - but a new study shows fewer than 5,000 may be enough to see a benefit.

The analysis of more than 226,000 people around the world showed 4,000 was enough to start reducing the risk of dying prematurely of any cause.

Just over 2,300 is enough to benefit the heart and blood vessels.

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I have never understood how, what was purely a made-up advertising slogan with a number plucked from the air, became taken as health gospel.

Most people who don't work the streets, struggle to achieve 10,000 steps a day. Doing so has very little benefit, and the time taken to complete the task pretty much wastes the lifetime one is supposedly regaining.

It's not only the time walking but the time getting into kit, getting out of it, and showering, and that's a daily unwanted cost with the cost of living crisis.

The whole rigmarole of achieving 10,000 steps can easily end up taking two hours and that adds up to a whole month of walking per year. And who has two hours to spare each and every day, two hours which couldn't be better spent doing something else ?

You are wasting 12.5% of your life in the hope of reclaiming 15%. It's not worth the effort. As is often said, better a normal and happy life, than a longer but miserable one.

But explain it, even provide evidence, to most health care professionals and they will still advocate it rather than easier alternatives which provide greater health benefits.