In a win for lazy girls, the ideal number of 'steps' per day is lower than you think.

If you've ever stared at your fitness tracker at 8pm and thought, "How the hell am I supposed to get 10,000 steps in now?" — good news: you might not have to.

In even better news for those of us who rarely get close to that number (ahem, me more often than I'd like to admit), it turns out 10,000 steps a day isn't quite the health holy grail it's been made out to be.

A new scientific analysis out of the University of Sydney, published in The Lancet Public Health, has found that the ideal number of steps to keep our bodies healthy and happy is much more achievable.

It turns out the health benefits start to show well before the 10,000 mark — around 5,000 to 7,000 steps per day, depending on the outcome.

Yep, a whole 3,000 steps lower than we've been told. That's potentially 30 extra minutes back in your day — and lord knows we all need it.

Now, if you're someone who's been happily hitting their 10,000 a day, there's no reason to stop now. But if you're like the rest of us struggling to hit a number that sometimes feels impossible, this study could change things for you.

Watch: Getting back in to exercise. Post continues below.

In the study, researchers said just one in three adults worldwide is insufficiently active — and there are concerning trends of stagnation in many countries.

When you think about how long most of us spend sitting in office chairs all day, it makes sense. We're more sedentary than ever — and it's showing in our health stats.

The review, which said it was the largest and most comprehensive synthesis of the association between daily steps and major health outcomes to date, looked at data from 88 studies to analyse how step counts were linked with the risk of developing several health conditions.

It found that walking more steps is linked to better health overall. But for things like dementia, falling and dying from any cause, the benefits start to level off somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 steps a day.

That doesn't mean walking more is bad — just that the biggest health gains happen earlier than we thought.

Compared to people who walked just 2,000 steps a day, those who walked 7,000 steps a day had a 47 per cent lower risk of dying from any cause, 25 per cent lower risk of developing heart disease, 38 per cent lower risk of getting dementia and 22 per cent lower risk of having depressive symptoms.

The link between more steps and lower risk was strong for most conditions, but for some (like cancer diagnosis or falls), the evidence wasn't as solid — meaning more research is still needed.

"Although 10 000 steps per day, an unofficial target for decades without a clear evidence base, was associated with substantially lower risks for all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease incidence, cancer mortality, dementia, and depressive symptoms than 7000 steps per day, the incremental improvement beyond 7000 steps per day was small, and there was no statistical difference between 7000 steps per day and a higher step count for all the other outcomes," the review said.

"Therefore, 7000 steps per day might be a more realistic and achievable recommendation for some, but 10 000 steps per day can still be a viable target for those who are more active. Importantly, even a modest step count was associated with lower risk."

The researchers noted that while the findings are compelling, more data is still needed for some conditions, like cancer and falls, where the evidence was less strong.

The origin of the 10,000 steps goal.

So where does this "10,000 steps" obsession come from? Why this exact number?

As it turns out, it wasn't based on rigorous science, but clever marketing.

After the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, a Japanese company launched a pedometer called the Manpo-kei, which literally translates to "10,000 steps meter".

According to Harvard Medical School professor of medicine Dr I-Min Lee, "The name was a marketing tool."

US professor Dr Greg Hager has also spoken about the marketing origins of the step count goal, saying fitness apps latched onto a number from one study carried out in Japan.

“Some of you might wear Fitbits or something equivalent, and I bet every now and then it gives you that cool little message 'You did 10,000 steps today,'" Hager told the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2017.

"Turns out, in 1960 in Japan, they figured out that the average Japanese man, when he walked 10,000 steps a day, burned something like 3,000 calories and that is what they thought the average person should consume. So they picked 10,000 steps as a number."

And suddenly it all makes sense.

We guess this means we can stop stressing over the golden number and instead focus on just doing what we can.

Finally, an end to this madness.

Feature image: Pinterest/Amanda Edin.