listen to your body and not just outside research

There is now a new research on how many steps one should take a day! It states that the 10,000 steps earlier held necessary for leading a healthy life is not the standard anymore! The new benchmark is 7000 steps.

How do researches arrive at these numbers? Once a number is arrived at, how is it that it is widely accepted by the medical and healthcare fraternity? Is the recommendation itself arrived at after thorough research? Given that many research recommendations are routinely changed, it is but natural to doubt the veracity of these claims!

Factors Affecting Research Outcomes

Some of the factors that may affect these research outcomes are:

Sample size problems: This includes demographic and cultural aspects. Various types of food differently impact different races and cultures. So one generalization is quite an outreach.
Funder bias: The research studies are many times funded by various interest groups, so there is a higher chance of a funder bias.
Publication bias: Those who publish these results are often lazy to delve deeper into the research details and thus end up only producing headline focused news.

Navigating Contradictory Recommendations

How does one navigate this often contradictory recommendations? Here's a refined approach to navigating contradictory recommendations:

Prioritize fundamental principles:

Regardless of what the latest study says, core health principles remain unchanged forever:

Always be active: Movement is generally beneficial. Whether it's 7K or 10K increasing physical activity improves cardiovascular health, mood, and overall health.
Eat whole, unprocessed foods: A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats, with minimal processed foods, is consistently linked to better health outcomes across diverse populations.
Get good sleep: Adequate and quality sleep is foundational to physical and mental health.
Have active social life: Strong social bonds and an active engagement will help in overall well-being.
Listen to your body's signals: Your body provides consistent feedback on its state. Pay attention to how different foods make you feel, what level of activity energizes you versus exhausts you, and what helps you sleep well. This personalized biofeedback is often more relevant than a generalized recommendation made by some unknown researchers.
Borrow from your tradition: Traditional diets and activity patterns often evolved to suit specific environments and genetic predispositions. Aligning with these practices can be beneficial for one's wellbeing while also culturally enriching.