There is a lot of truth as well as some myths behind the old health goal recommendations.
We all know the old daily goals recommended by health authorities, like getting eight hours of sleep every night, taking 10,000 steps a day, or drinking eight glasses of water a day. But does science still support these ideas?
Let’s start with 150 minutes of weekly exercise. The general minimum recommendation is that adults get 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week or 75 minutes of more vigorous exercise, reports the Science Focus.
“If you follow the recommendations, you are between 11% and 15% less likely to die from any problem compared to people who do nothing and their risk of dying from a heart attack is 20% lower,” explains Gavin Sandercock, Professor of Exercise Science at the University of Essex.
This recommendation is a diluted version of the first guidelines issued in 1991, which advocated carrying out 150 minutes of moderate exercise, but preferably vigorous, in addition to what we already do, in sessions of at least half an hour.
However, it is easier for us to calculate the specific time we dedicate to the most vigorous exercise than to have an idea of how many kilometers we walk, which explains the simplification of the guideline.
So what about 10,000 steps a day? “A 10,000 step goal was a trick produced for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics by a pedometer company,” explains Sandercock.
One of the main problems with this goal is the lack of confidence we have in pedometers, which tend to count any small movement as a step. Having one of these devices also tends not to result in long-term changes in activity, as participants tend to fall back into old habits quickly.
Sandercock thus recommends increasing the number of daily steps by about 15%. Generally, 6000 steps is also enough to notice an improvement in health indicators.
14 units of alcohol and eight hours of sleep
We’ve long heard that seven to eight hours of sleep a night is the ideal number for adults. According to Nilong Vyas of sleep consultant Sleepless in NOLA, most people say feel more energetic when it meets this target, but this value is more of an ideal number than something that should stress us out.
“It has more to do with create a sleep goal within a lifestyle that allows us to do so”, he explains, also recommending not using electronic devices at least one hour before bed.
Another number often referred to as the limit is to consume 14 units of alcohol per week. However, even moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages is associated with various health problems, such as an increased risk of developing cancer or heart disease.
Ian Gilmore, President of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK, explains that “the vast majority of people are unaware that alcohol is linked to seven common cancersincluding breast and colon cancer” and recommends that regular drinkers try to go a few months without drinking.
“Alcohol Change, the charity behind Janeiro Seco, has shown that between six and 12 months later, there is a significant improvement in some people’s relationship with alcohol. It’s more about showing them they can do without drinking, giving them an opportunity to restart your relationship with alcohol,” says Gilmore.
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