Don’t worry too much if you don’t meet the goal of 10,000 steps a day – just under 4,000 may be enough to reduce your risk of early death.
A groundbreaking scientific review, based on nearly 227,000 healthy people from 17 separate studies, showed that the risk of premature death can be reduced in people who walk at least 3,867 steps per day.
It shows that people who take less than 5,000 daily steps, which health experts used to call “sedentary,” are likely still doing themselves well.
The craze to record daily steps, on smartphones and smartwatches, has led to 10,000 steps being adopted as most people’s goal.
But the review also found that people’s risk of dying from cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes, begin to decrease if they take at least 2,337 steps a day.
A groundbreaking scientific review, based on nearly 227,000 healthy people from 17 separate studies, showed that the risk of premature death can be reduced in people who walk at least 3,867 steps per day
This means current recommendations may need to be reconsidered, the researchers said, though they emphasize that the more steps people take, the better.
Professor Maciej Banach, who led the study from the Medical University of Lodz in Poland, said: ‘People like to track their daily steps and are proud when they increase the number.
“It’s a good way to achieve the critical lifestyle changes that can reduce the risk of death.”
“We found that this was true for both men and women, regardless of age.”
The review, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, looked at studies, including six from the UK, that measured people’s daily steps for at least a full week.
These people, with an average age of 64, were followed for an average of seven years to see how many died prematurely from any cause or from cardiovascular disease.
This allowed researchers to calculate how many steps per day were taken by people who did not die early, compared to the daily number of steps taken by those who died.
This enabled them to estimate the minimum daily steps required to fall into the group of people who are less likely to die.
They found that at least 3,867 steps per day, and at least 2,337 steps per day, was the point at which a lower risk of death from any cause and cardiovascular disease seemed to begin.
But the more steps a person can take in a day, the better, the study found, with every 1,000 extra steps a day a person took was linked to a 15 percent reduction in the risk of dying prematurely from any cause. also.
Every additional 500 steps per day was linked to a seven percent reduction in the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
The average person in the UK took 5,444 daily steps before Covid, although people may be slightly more inactive now after habits change during the pandemic.
Being active keeps blood vessels healthy, making a heart attack or stroke less likely.
The studies looked at people who walked up to 20,000 steps a day, and more steps were linked to a lower chance of dying early up to the full 20,000 steps.
It’s unclear whether taking more steps would keep things even better, or whether the health effects would level off above a certain amount.
However, walking seems to be better for people under 60, who may benefit from a healthier lifestyle later in life.
Professor Banach said: ‘Our analysis indicates that just 4,000 steps per day are needed to significantly reduce deaths from any cause, and even less to reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease.
“In a world where we have increasingly sophisticated drugs to target specific conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, I think we should always emphasize that lifestyle changes, including diet and exercise, which were one of the main heroes of our analysis , could be at least as important. , or even more effective in reducing cardiovascular risk and extending life.”