How much movement is enough? The dose-response question beyond 10,000 steps
The 10,000 steps probably come from advertising, not from the lab. What large studies show today about the dose of movement, and why everyday movement, strength and short bursts of intensity belong together.
Many people feel guilty when their watch shows 6,000 steps in the evening. Yet 10,000 is not a constant of nature but most likely started out as a product name. The more important question is not whether you hit a number. It is which mix of movement may do your body good.
There is no magic number. In large meta-analyses, a lower risk of death is already visible from around 2,500 to 4,000 steps per day. In people aged 60 and over, the curve levels off somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 steps, in younger people between 8,000 and 10,000. For many, 7,000 steps could be a realistic goal. But steps are only one part: strength training on at least two days per week, occasional intensity and interrupted sitting complete the picture.
Where does the number 10,000 come from anyway?
It is 10:40 at night. Your watch shows 9,312 steps. You do a few more laps of the kitchen so that the little ring finally closes.
Or you know the other side. A glance at your phone, 4,000 steps, and your guilty conscience kicks in straight away. As if you had failed an exam.
Both hinge on a number whose story begins in a surprisingly unscientific way.
In 1965, the Japanese company Yamasa sold a pedometer. Its name was Manpo-kei, which roughly translates as 10,000-step meter. Lee and colleagues from Harvard Medical School trace the famous number back to it. But they write explicitly that its origin has not been established with certainty.
A 2004 review by Tudor-Locke and Bassett points to a similar trail. It links the 10,000 to Japanese walking clubs and a business slogan. A round, easy to remember number, then. That is good marketing. It is not proof.
Imagine 10,000 as clothing size M. It fits some people perfectly. For others it is too big or too small. It is a tailored suit for no one.
A target number can get you moving
Bravata and colleagues from Stanford University summarized 26 studies on the use of pedometers, including 8 randomized trials.
In the randomized trials, people with a pedometer walked on average 2,491 more steps per day than the control groups. A fixed step goal, such as 10,000 a day, was an important factor in this increase. Body mass index fell by a mean of 0.38 points, and systolic blood pressure by 3.8 mmHg.
For you, this means: a number can be a strong motivator. Whether the effects last in the long run, however, the analysis left open.
Bravata DM et al. Using pedometers to increase physical activity and improve health: a systematic review. JAMA. 2007;298(19):2296-2304. DOI: 10.1001/jama.298.19.2296As early as 2004, Tudor-Locke and Bassett proposed a rough classification. They read fewer than 5,000 steps per day as a sign of a sedentary lifestyle. From 10,000 steps on, they spoke of being active. At the same time, they cautioned that 10,000 might often be hard to reach for older or chronically ill people.
10,000 is not wrong. It is just not a biological threshold where health begins. It is a motivational tool from advertising, and a tool is something you are allowed to fit to your own hand.
And now you know why the closed ring on your watch is more psychology than physiology.
How many steps a day do the studies point to?
Maybe you are asking yourself now: if not 10,000, then how many? A fair question. Since motion sensors began counting steps objectively, research has been able to look at exactly that.
The benefit rises, but not endlessly
Paluch and colleagues from the University of Massachusetts Amherst jointly analyzed the raw data from 15 cohorts with 47,471 adults. Over an average of seven years, 3,013 people died.
People who walked an average of 5,801 steps had a 40 percent lower risk of death than the group with 3,553 steps. At 7,842 steps it was 45 percent, at 10,901 steps 53 percent. From age 60, the curve leveled off between 6,000 and 8,000 steps, in younger people between 8,000 and 10,000.
For you, this means: the step count that suits you also depends on your age. And the biggest difference lies at the lower end of the curve.
Paluch AE et al. Daily steps and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis of 15 international cohorts. Lancet Public Health. 2022;7(3):e219-e228. DOI: 10.1016/S2468-2667(21)00302-9Back in 2019, Lee's team had studied 16,741 women in the Women's Health Study, with an average age of 72. Even around 4,400 steps per day went along with lower mortality than around 2,700 steps. From about 7,500 steps on, the curve leveled off.
What large studies show about step count
All values come from observational studies. They describe associations, not thresholds beyond which health automatically begins.
7,000 steps and more than just years of life
Ding and colleagues from the University of Sydney analyzed 57 studies from 35 cohorts. They looked not only at mortality but also at the heart, cancer, diabetes, dementia, mood and falls.
Compared with 2,000 steps, 7,000 steps were associated with 47 percent lower mortality, 25 percent less cardiovascular disease, 38 percent less dementia, 22 percent fewer depressive symptoms and 28 percent fewer falls. For several outcomes, the bend in the curve lay at around 5,000 to 7,000 steps.
For you, this means: 7,000 steps could be a realistic goal for many people. For more active people, the authors still consider 10,000 steps a sensible goal.
Ding D et al. Daily steps and health outcomes in adults: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis. Lancet Public Health. 2025;10(8):e668-e681. DOI: 10.1016/S2468-2667(25)00164-1Two further meta-analyses paint a similar picture. In 17 cohorts with 226,889 people, Banach and colleagues found a 15 percent lower risk of death for every 1,000 additional steps. Stens and colleagues from Radboud University in Nijmegen saw first differences from as few as about 2,500 steps. In a representative US sample of 4,840 adults, the risk of death at 8,000 steps was about half as high as at 4,000.
What stands out is that in Ding's analysis, dementia and depressive symptoms move along with the step count too. This fits the nervous system lens of Clinical Psychoneuroimmunology, KPNI for short. Every step is also a signal to your brain. How this may work via messengers such as BDNF, I describe in the article Movement for depression and anxiety.
Almost all of these data come from observational studies. They show associations, not proof of cause and effect. People who are already ill often walk less, and that can distort the curves. Devices and wearing positions also differ. In the Stens meta-analysis, the strength of the associations varied depending on the device. So above all, compare your own values over time.
You do not have to jump from 3,000 to 10,000. In all the large analyses, the steepest part of the curve lies at the lower end. The first additional 2,000 steps could change more than the last 2,000.
And now you know why the step count that suits you is more of a range than a point.
Why the curve flattens: the law of diminishing returns
Do you know the thought that movement is only worth it if you give it everything? Either a marathon or nothing at all. Either the gym five times a week or better not bother.
It is exactly this all-or-nothing thinking that keeps many people on the sofa. The data tell a kinder story.
Imagine movement as water for a dried-out plant. The first glass changes the most. The tenth does no harm, but it hardly adds anything new.
The biggest leap lies between nothing and something
Arem and colleagues from the US National Cancer Institute pooled six cohorts with 661,137 people and followed them for an average of 14 years.
Even less than the recommended minimum of leisure time activity was associated with 20 percent lower mortality. At one to two times the recommendation it was 31 percent, at three to five times 39 percent. Beyond that, hardly anything more was gained, but even at ten times the recommendation there was no sign of higher mortality.
For you, this means: reaching the minimum seems to bring almost the whole benefit. More is welcome, but not a must.
Arem H et al. Leisure time physical activity and mortality: a detailed pooled analysis of the dose-response relationship. JAMA Intern Med. 2015;175(6):959-967. DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.0533A large cohort from Taiwan supports this view. Wen and colleagues followed 416,175 people. As little as about 15 minutes of moderate activity per day, around 92 minutes per week, was associated with 14 percent lower mortality and three additional years of life expectancy. Each further quarter of an hour per day went along with a further 4 percent.
And what if your everyday life does not allow for daily movement? Inoue and colleagues from Kyoto University analyzed data from 3,101 US adults. Those who walked at least 8,000 steps on one to two days a week had a 14.9 percentage point lower risk of death over ten years than people without such a day. With three to seven days, it was 16.5 percentage points.
Perfection is not the price of admission. If you go from very little to a bit more movement, you are moving in the steepest part of the curve. That is exactly where freedom begins, not only at the finish line of a marathon.
And now you know why the saying “a little is better than nothing” is scientifically well founded.
Everyday movement: the movement you do not even notice as exercise
Think back to yesterday. How many hours did you spend sitting? In the car, at your desk, on the sofa?
And how many minutes were you on your feet without it feeling like exercise? Stairs, shopping, kids, a phone call while walking. It is exactly this inconspicuous movement that most of us underestimate.
Research has a clunky name for it: NEAT, non-exercise activity thermogenesis. It means the energy you use for movement that is not exercise. Imagine it as the background hum of an engine that quietly keeps running all day.
Levine and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic recorded posture and movement every half second for ten days in 10 lean and 10 mildly overweight people without an exercise routine. The people with excess weight sat on average about two hours longer per day. Had they moved as much in everyday life as the lean participants, they could, by calculation, have used about 350 kilocalories more per day.
Light movement counts too
Ekelund and colleagues from the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences in Oslo analyzed data from 36,383 adults whose movement was measured with sensors. On average they were just under 63 years old.
Every intensity counted. In the most active quarter for light movement, such as slow walking or housework, the risk of death was 62 percent lower than in the least active quarter. In the quarter with the most sitting time, by contrast, the risk was 2.6 times as high as in the quarter with the least.
For you, this means: it is not only the run in the park that counts. The walk to the bakery is part of your movement dose too.
Ekelund U et al. Dose-response associations between accelerometry measured physical activity and sedentary time and all cause mortality: systematic review and harmonised meta-analysis. BMJ. 2019;366:l4570. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.l4570Why does even light movement count? A look into the muscle cell offers a plausible explanation. When a muscle works, sugar transporters called GLUT4 move to the cell surface. This is triggered by signaling pathways of their own that belong to muscle work, for example via the enzyme AMPK and calcium. That is how Richter and Hargreaves describe it in a review. Imagine GLUT4 as doors that open during movement and let sugar from the blood into the muscle. That is the metabolic lens.
The immune and hormonal lenses add to the picture. In a review, Pedersen and Febbraio describe skeletal muscle as an organ that releases messengers when it works, known as myokines. They are in exchange with fat tissue, the liver, the pancreas, bone and the brain. Interleukin-6 from muscle can also act on the immune system. The authors suspect that lack of movement alters this signaling network and could thereby contribute to the link between sitting and chronic diseases. Mechanistically this is plausible, but in humans it has not been proven at every link of the chain.
Can exercise offset long periods of sitting? A harmonized meta-analysis by Ekelund with more than a million people gives a nuanced answer. At around 60 to 75 minutes of moderate activity per day, a lot of sitting was no longer associated with higher mortality. With a great deal of television time, a residual risk remained.
Two minutes of walking every 20 minutes
Dunstan and colleagues from the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne had 19 overweight adults sit in different ways on three days: continuously, or interrupted every 20 minutes by two minutes of light or brisk walking.
With the walking breaks, the rise in blood sugar after a test drink was around 25 to 29 percent smaller. The insulin response was around 23 percent lower. A 2026 meta-analysis by Gale and colleagues covering 39 such studies found the clearest effects with walking breaks every 15 to 20 minutes.
For you, this means: sitting breaks are a lever of their own, alongside your step count. These are short-term laboratory findings, and the long-term effect is still open.
Dunstan DW et al. Breaking up prolonged sitting reduces postprandial glucose and insulin responses. Diabetes Care. 2012;35(5):976-983. DOI: 10.2337/dc11-1931Why long periods of sitting may slow down muscle metabolism in particular, I describe in detail in the article Sitting and physical inactivity. How a short walk after eating may influence blood sugar, you can read in Movement and blood sugar after eating.
Movement is not only what is in your calendar as a workout. Every trip to the printer, every flight of stairs, every phone call taken standing up is a small signal to your muscles. You are collecting all day long, not only in sportswear.
And now you know why your everyday life counts at least as much as your training.
Strength: the building block no step counter measures
Imagine carrying two full shopping bags up to the third floor. Or getting up from a deep armchair without using your hands. These are not athletic feats. They are moments in which strength decides how independent you are.
Your step counter sees none of this. It counts steps, not kilos.
30 to 60 minutes of strength per week
Momma and colleagues from Tohoku University in Japan analyzed 16 cohort studies on muscle-strengthening activity.
Strength training was associated with a 10 to 17 percent lower risk of death, cardiovascular disease, total cancer, diabetes and lung cancer, independently of aerobic activity. The largest effect appeared at around 30 to 60 minutes per week. For considerably larger amounts, the association was unclear, and the curve was J-shaped.
For you, this means: even a modest amount of strength training per week could make a contribution of its own that steps alone do not cover.
Momma H et al. Muscle-strengthening activities are associated with lower risk and mortality in major non-communicable diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies. Br J Sports Med. 2022;56(13):755-763. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2021-105061A US cohort by Coleman and colleagues with 416,420 adults rounds out the picture. For aerobic activity, even one hour per week was associated with a markedly lower risk of death, and from about three hours on the association leveled off. Strength training on top of aerobic activity was associated with a further advantage, starting at one to two sessions per week. At seven sessions per week, no additional advantage was discernible.
Why muscles in particular? They are an important consumer of sugar from the blood. In data from 13,644 US adults, Srikanthan and Karlamangla found that for every 10 percent more relative muscle mass, insulin resistance was 11 percent lower and the prevalence of prediabetes 12 percent lower. This is a cross-sectional analysis. It shows an association, not a cause.
This is where the metabolic lens and the hormonal lens meet. Insulin is a hormone. If you have more working muscle, you may get by with less of it for the same amount of sugar. You can find more on this in Strength training for diabetes and insulin resistance and in Strength training after 40. Why muscle loss begins earlier than you might think is explained in the article on sarcopenia.
This is why the WHO recommends that adults do strength training for all major muscle groups, at moderate or higher intensity, on at least two days per week.
Strength training is not bodybuilding. It is a safeguard for your independence. Stairs, bags, getting up: these are the tests your life will set you later on.
And now you know why 10,000 steps without strength would only be half a program.
Intensity: what do short peaks in everyday life do?
You have almost missed the train and take the stairs at a run. At the top you are out of breath, your heart pounding in your throat. Annoying?
Maybe those were some of the most valuable seconds of your day.
Three short peaks per day
Stamatakis and colleagues from the University of Sydney analyzed sensor data from 25,241 people in the UK Biobank who did not exercise. They measured short, intense bursts in the middle of everyday life. The participants were then followed for an average of almost seven years.
Three such bursts of one to two minutes each per day were associated with 38 to 40 percent lower all-cause and cancer mortality. Cardiovascular mortality was 48 to 49 percent lower. In people who did exercise, similar associations were found for vigorous activity.
For you, this means: intensity does not have to be a workout at the gym. Short peaks in everyday life could count too. It remains an observational study that does not prove cause.
Stamatakis E et al. Association of wearable device-measured vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity with mortality. Nat Med. 2022;28(12):2521-2529. DOI: 10.1038/s41591-022-02100-xThat intensity could play a role of its own fits with fitness research. Kodama and colleagues summarized 33 studies with more than 100,000 people. For each additional MET of maximal exercise capacity, which corresponds to roughly one kilometer per hour more running speed, the risk of death was 13 percent lower. How this endurance capacity, the VO2max, can be developed, I describe in the article VO2max and life expectancy.
And step pace? Here the evidence is mixed. In the Women's Health Study and in the US sample by Saint-Maurice, pace was no longer clearly associated with mortality once step count was taken into account. Paluch, by contrast, found an additional association for the fastest 30 minutes of the day. Del Pozo Cruz in the UK Biobank with 78,500 people and Stens in their meta-analysis came to a similar view. This question has not yet been conclusively answered.
Which intensity suits your nervous system, I describe in HIIT or endurance. You will find the calm counterpart in Understanding zone 2 training.
Intensity is not pressure to perform. It may be enough to get properly out of breath now and then. The next staircase is a free gym that is open every day.
And now you know why the same step count is not always the same movement.
A movement portfolio instead of a single number
Maybe you are feeling a bit overwhelmed now. Steps, strength, intensity, sitting breaks. Do you have to optimize all of this at once?
No. Think of a portfolio, not an exam. A good portfolio is spread across several building blocks. None of them has to be perfect, but together they carry the load.
The mix makes the difference
López-Bueno and colleagues from the University of Zaragoza followed 500,705 US adults for an average of ten years. They compared 48 combinations of moderate aerobic activity, vigorous aerobic activity and strength training.
The risk of death was lowest with a mix of some moderate activity, more than 150 minutes of vigorous activity and at least two strength sessions per week. It was around half as high as in the group with no aerobic activity and too little strength training. The authors conclude that balanced combinations could be associated with the greatest risk reduction.
For you, this means: the mix seems to matter more than any single record value.
López-Bueno R et al. Prospective associations of different combinations of aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity with all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality. JAMA Intern Med. 2023;183(9):982-990. DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.3093Everyday life and steps
A range instead of a number. In studies, the benefit levels off at roughly 6,000 to 10,000 steps, depending on age. For many, 7,000 steps could be a realistic anchor.
Strength
In cohort studies, the largest effect appeared at around 30 to 60 minutes per week. The WHO names at least two days per week for all major muscle groups.
Intensity
The WHO names 150 to 300 minutes of moderate or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity per week. Short everyday peaks of one to two minutes were also associated with benefits.
Sitting breaks
Interrupt long periods of sitting. In the lab, walking breaks every 15 to 20 minutes were associated with the clearest effects on blood sugar and insulin.
Supported by large cohorts and meta-analyses
More movement is associated with lower mortality up to an age-dependent plateau. Strength training is associated with additional benefits. Something is better than nothing.
Mechanistically plausible
GLUT4 transporters, myokines and insulin sensitivity explain why muscle work can engage metabolism. Not every link in this chain has been proven in humans.
Still open
What role step pace plays. How far observational data reflect cause and effect. Whether short-term lab findings on sitting breaks hold up in the long run.
What I observe clinically
People are more likely to stick with it when they start from their own baseline instead of someone else's number. That is experience, not a study finding.
In my practice, I rarely ask about step count first. I ask what a perfectly ordinary day looks like. How long someone sits at a stretch. When they last carried something heavy. And when they were last properly out of breath.
Anthroposophic medicine describes the human being as threefold, with the rhythmic system of breathing and heartbeat as the balancing middle. Applied to movement, for me this means: better regularly, alternating between effort and recovery, than rarely and at maximum. This is a perspective from anthroposophic medicine, not a study finding.
There is no one right number. There is your mix. And it is allowed to change with your life, with jobs, seasons and phases of life.
And now you know why I prefer to speak of a movement portfolio rather than a step goal.
Three levers you can start with this week
You do not need a new plan for your whole life. You need a next step, quite literally.
Know your baseline
Check how many steps you walk on normal days. Then add about 1,000 to 2,000 on top. In the Banach meta-analysis, just 1,000 additional steps were associated with a 15 percent lower risk of death.
Strength twice a week
Getting up from a chair without your hands, wall push-ups, carrying, stairs. Choose exercises that challenge all major muscle groups, on two days a week, as the WHO recommends.
Break up sitting
Stand up briefly about every 20 minutes and take a few steps. Where you can, take the stairs briskly. One to two minutes out of breath may already count.
This is not about a number on your wrist. It is about still climbing the stairs to your own life by yourself at 80. Movement is not a chore. It is freedom you invest in today.
If you have cardiovascular disease, diabetes or other pre-existing conditions, or if you have been inactive for a long time, discuss any increase with a doctor first. An important exception: if you genuinely crash for days after exertion, a different condition may be behind it, such as ME/CFS or post-COVID. Then different rules apply, more on this in Exercise with chronic fatigue.
You do not have to change everything at once. A single lever, kept up for a few weeks, can move more than three levers for three days.
And now you know why the best movement dose is the one you will happily repeat tomorrow.
Frequently asked questions: how many steps a day and how much movement?
How many steps a day are healthy?
There is no fixed number, but there is a well described range. In a meta-analysis of 15 cohorts with 47,471 adults, the risk of death in people aged 60 and over kept falling up to about 6,000 to 8,000 steps per day, and in younger people up to about 8,000 to 10,000 steps. A 2025 meta-analysis found a 47 percent lower risk of death at 7,000 compared with 2,000 steps. In another analysis, measurable differences appeared from as few as about 2,500 steps compared with 2,000. These are observational data that show associations and do not prove cause.
Where does the 10,000 steps recommendation come from?
The number does not come from a study. According to an assessment in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, it probably goes back to a pedometer that the company Yamasa sold in Japan in 1965. It was called Manpo-kei, which roughly translates as 10,000-step meter. A 2004 review traces the number back to Japanese walking clubs and an advertising slogan. Only decades later did research begin to study the dose systematically.
Are 10,000 steps too many or pointless?
No, 10,000 steps are not a wrong turn, they are just not a threshold. In the UK Biobank with 78,500 adults, more steps up to about 10,000 per day were associated with a lower risk of death, cancer and cardiovascular disease. For younger adults, the curve in the Paluch meta-analysis only leveled off between 8,000 and 10,000 steps. If you enjoy walking 10,000 steps, you can stick with it. If you are far below that, the biggest gain lies in the first additional steps.
Are 7,000 steps a day enough?
For many people, 7,000 steps could be a realistic and sensible goal. Ding and colleagues analyzed 57 studies from 35 cohorts. Compared with 2,000 steps, 7,000 steps were associated with 47 percent lower mortality, 38 percent less dementia, 22 percent fewer depressive symptoms and 28 percent fewer falls. For most outcomes, the authors rated the certainty of the evidence as moderate. Steps, however, replace neither strength training nor occasional peaks of exertion.
How many steps a day make sense after 60?
In older adults, the benefit seems to level off earlier. In the Paluch meta-analysis, the risk of death in people aged 60 and over kept falling up to about 6,000 to 8,000 steps per day. In the Women's Health Study with 16,741 women, average age 72, even an average of about 4,400 steps was associated with lower mortality than about 2,700 steps. There, the curve leveled off from about 7,500 steps. With age, strength and balance also become more important.
Does slow walking count, or do I have to walk briskly?
Every step counts, and the total amount seems to matter most. In several large studies, step pace was no longer clearly associated with mortality once step count was taken into account. Other analyses found an additional association for the fastest 30 minutes of the day. In the UK Biobank, short intense bursts of one to two minutes in everyday life were associated with markedly lower mortality. The question of pace is therefore not yet considered conclusively settled.
Do steps replace strength training?
No, steps and strength seem to complement each other. In a meta-analysis of 16 cohort studies, muscle-strengthening training was associated with a 10 to 17 percent lower risk of death, cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, independently of aerobic activity. The largest effect appeared at around 30 to 60 minutes per week. In a US cohort with 416,420 adults, strength training on top of aerobic activity was associated with a further advantage, starting at one to two sessions per week. The WHO recommends strength training for all major muscle groups on at least two days per week.
Can I catch up on movement on the weekend?
To some extent, that seems possible. In a US cohort with 3,101 adults, the risk of death over ten years in people who walked at least 8,000 steps on one to two days a week was 14.9 percentage points lower than in people without such a day. With three to seven days, it was 16.5 percentage points, and from three days on the association leveled off. Regular everyday movement still remains valuable, for example for blood sugar after meals. These are observational data, not proof of cause and effect.
Does exercise offset long periods of sitting?
Partly, if the amount of movement is high. In a harmonized meta-analysis with more than a million people, long sitting time was no longer associated with higher mortality at around 60 to 75 minutes of moderate activity per day. With a great deal of television time, a residual risk remained. In addition, short walking breaks can lower blood sugar after meals, most clearly with interruptions every 15 to 20 minutes. Movement and less sitting are therefore two separate levers.
How much physical activity does the WHO recommend?
The WHO recommends that adults do 150 to 300 minutes of moderate or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week, or a combination of both. On top of that comes strength training for all major muscle groups on at least two days per week. According to the guideline, replacing sitting time with activity of any intensity, including light activity, is associated with health benefits. A fixed step count is not part of the core recommendations. The guideline emphasizes that some activity is better than none.
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Sources
All studies were checked via PubMed for title, authors, year, journal and DOI, and key DOIs additionally via Crossref. Figures come from the respective abstracts. The information on the origin of the 10,000 steps comes from the introduction of the study by Lee and colleagues and from the abstract by Tudor-Locke and Bassett. Most of the step count data come from observational studies and show associations, not proof of cause and effect. The mechanisms described for GLUT4 and myokines are based on reviews and have not been confirmed in every detail in humans. The perspectives from clinical practice are clinical observations, not study results. This article does not replace a medical examination and consultation.
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