How many steps a day do you really need to take?
Even a small increase in steps per day can lower risk of heart disease, dementia and cancer
A modest increase in steps per day is associated with a lower risk of health complications, a new study finds.
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Walking just 7,000 steps per day can lower a person’s risk of certain health issues, according to a new study.
“While the 10,000-step goal is widely known, it lacks a solid evidence base,” says Borja del Pozo Cruz, a physical activity epidemiologist at Universidad Europea de Madrid. “A target around 7,000 steps is more achievable for many and still provides substantial health benefits.”
To understand how walking might impact a range of health conditions, del Pozo Cruz and colleagues analyzed data from 57 studies examining the relationship between daily step count and various health outcomes. Compared with people who walked only 2,000 steps per day, those who took 7,000 steps saw a 47 percent drop in the risk of death from any cause within several years, the team reports July 23 in the Lancet Public Health.
Walking for health
Walking more steps per day is associated with a lower risk of death from all causes within a given time frame. The hazard ratio represents the relative increase in risk of death compared to a baseline of 2,000 steps per day (vertical solid line). A hazard ratio of 1 (horizontal dashed line) means there’s no difference in risk compared to the baseline. The red shaded region reflects the uncertainty in the hazard ratio calculations.
Link between daily steps and all causes of mortality
Hitting the 7,000-step target was also linked with a 25 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease, a 37 percent lower risk of dying from cancer and a 38 percent lower risk of dementia. Walking more reduced those risks even further, but by a smaller amount.
Even a small increase in steps per day lowered some of the health risks: Walking 4,000 steps per day was linked to a 36 percent lower risk of death from all causes, compared with 2,000 steps.
While the study’s findings indicate that a higher step count is linked to reduced health risks, some limitations remain. Larger, longer-term studies could bolster the conclusions, del Pozo Cruz says. And the new study didn’t capture how other factors, such as age, lifestyle or existing health conditions, might affect the recommended step count.
Still, experts have shown that even small changes in physical activity can boost overall health. “Every step counts,” del Pozo Cruz says. “You don’t need to reach 10,000 steps to see improvements — just moving more each day, even from a very low baseline, can reduce your risk of serious health problems.”
