Getting 10,000 steps in every day can be challenging, and a new study suggests 7,000 steps can reduce the risk of developing common but serious health conditions.-
If you’ve been told that walking 10,000 steps a day is mandatory for good health, you might be surprised to learn that scientists suspect the figure was created to market pedometers and wasn’t based on actual data. The number of steps that stave off numerous chronic conditions is actually much lower, according to a paper published today in Lancet Public Health that reviewed the past decade’s research on steps and health.
Walking just 7,000 steps a day lowers the risk of developing more than a half dozen medical conditions as well as premature death, according to the researchers. The scientists, from Australia, the United Kingdom, and Norway, analyzed dozens of studies involving 160,000 adults putting one foot in front of the other.
Compared to people walking 2,000 steps, the 7,000-step total was associated with a 38 percent lower risk of dementia, a 25 percent reduction in cardiovascular disease, and 28 percent fewer falls. Mortality dropped nearly half in the 7,000-step walkers. Risks for depression and type 2 diabetes also fell, although by less than for the other conditions.
It’s long been known that physical activity, including moderate-intensity walking, benefits health. But this is the first time researchers were able to correlate step goals with the wide range of preventive health outcomes.
“Step counting devices are becoming so widely available that the general public wants to know what they should aim for,” says Melody Ding, a public health researcher at the University of Syndey in Australia and the study’s lead author.
People can now feel confident with a target of 7,000, she says.
How more research led to a more accurate estimate
This study “is really exciting because it looks at how step volume makes a big difference in several major health outcomes,” says Michael Rocha, a cardiologist in Dartmouth, Massachusetts who leads walking excursions in his community as part of the nationwide Walk with a Doc health program.
