How many steps should you walk for your health?

Walking is commonly recommended for its health benefits. But recommendations vary depending on the source. How many steps do you actually need to take to see the benefits? A review article has just answered this question...

The recommendations for physical activity are generally 𝟏𝟓𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲, or 75 minutes of 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 physical activity. The number of steps taken per day is easy to measure, especially since the advent of sports performance measurement devices 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬. A systematic review published in 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑡 𝑃𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ compiled the results of 57 articles and examined the link between the 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐲 and various health parameters.

The authors concluded that walking 𝟕,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 by 47% compared to walking 2,000 steps per day. Looking at the causes of death in detail, walking 7,000 steps reduced the risk of 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 by 25%, the risk of dying from 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 by 37% and the risk of 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚 by 38%. Walking more than 7,000 steps further reduced these figures, but only minimally. Even walking 𝟒,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬.

Therefore, even though the goal of 10,000 steps per day is often mentioned, 7,000 steps is a more 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥, with 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬. Another recent study also showed a 20% reduction in overall mortality after just 𝟏𝟓 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠!