Daily steps: Study makes new recommendation to lower risk of premature death

The health benefits associated with regular exercise are fairly established but you don’t need expensive gym equipment to reap the benefits.

Research continues to prove that walking is very potent for a number of reasons, but studies often recommend different targets of steps to achieve.

Fortunately, new research, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, has now settled this debate.

For the first time, the scientists not only identified the optimal number of steps at which most people obtain the greatest benefits, but also the optimal pace.

You might have heard that taking 10,000 steps is the golden standard for reaping health benefits, but this idea actually has no scientific basis.

The new study has now shown that, if you want to slash your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, you should aim for 7,000 steps instead.

But in order to significantly reduce your risk of premature death, the researchers recommended aiming for 8,000 steps.

Given the average length of a human stride (76 centimetres for men and 67 centimetres for women), taking 8,000 steps is equivalent to walking approximately 6.4 kilometres a day.

When it comes to pace, walking faster offers additional benefits for your body.

The lead author of the study Francisco B. Ortega said: “Traditionally, many people thought that you had to reach about 10,000 steps a day to obtain health benefits – an idea that came out of Japan in the 1960s but had no basis in science.

“We’ve shown for the first time that the more steps you take, the better, and that there is no excessive number of steps that has been proven to be harmful to health.”

The research team arrived at their findings by conducting a systematic literature review and meta-analysis of data from twelve international studies involving more than 110,000 participants.

Their results are in line with other recent studies, which show that health benefits are obtained at less than 10,000 steps.

One of the lead authors of the study Esmée Bakker added: “What makes our study different is that, for the first time, we set clear step targets.

“In this study, we show that measurable benefits can be obtained with small increases in the number of steps per day, and that for people with low levels of physical activity, every additional 500 steps improve their health. 

“This is good news because not everyone can walk almost 9,000 steps a day, at least not at first, so you can set small, reachable goals and gradually make progress and increase the number of steps per day.”

While 7,000 to 9,000 steps a day are highly beneficial, the research team added there’s no reason to stop there as “more steps are never bad”.