It felt like there was a collective sigh of relief when a study, published this week, suggested 10,000 steps a day isn't the health utopia we had all been led to believe.
The news that we only had to reach 7,000 steps was enough to quite literally stop us in our fervent step-counting stride.
So what about some of the other health targets that many of us swear by? Can we fall short of the mark but still live long, healthy and happy lives?
We've taken a handful of commonly cited healthy lifestyle benchmarks, examined them with various experts to get an idea of why they exist, explored the health claims, and, most importantly asked if there is any wriggle room.
Is sleep so important that we have to spend so much of our lives doing it? How much exercise is enough? What about drinking water? How much do we really need?
