New York, March 8 : The famous theory of 10,000 steps a day for a healthy life is not an official number and any amount of activity beyond what you are currently doing would benefit your health, experts have said.

“The origins of the 10,000-steps recommendation are not exactly scientific. Pedometers sold in Japan in the 1960s were marketed under the name 'manpo-kei' which translates to 10,000 steps meter,” Catrine Tudor-Locke, director of the Walking Behavior Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana was quoted as saying.

Walking 10,000 steps a day is not an official recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP).

The centre recommends that adults should engage in 150 minutes of moderate activity a week such as brisk walking.

You need to walk about 7,000 to 8,000 steps a day, Tudor-Locke added.

If you normally walk about 5,000 steps a day, getting in an extra 30-minute brisk walk would take you to about 8,000 steps.

According to the researchers, each person has to find what works for them.

The most important thing is to increase your activity beyond what you were doing before, said reports.(IANS)