A new study published in the Lancet Public Health found that walking 7,000 daily steps is the quantity needed to boost your brain power and help protect you against a series of health conditions and death.
What’s the Ideal Step Goal?
Whereas previous studies have mainly examined the links between step count and heart health or overall death rates, this systematic review and meta-analysis examined how taking more steps daily could reduce the risk of a range of other health conditions.
Though 10,000 steps is considered the target figure for many, research now suggests 7,000 steps per day can reduce health risks like dementia, cancer, and heart disease.
“We have this perception we should be doing 10,000 steps a day,” says lead author Dr Melody Ding, “but it’s not evidence based”.
The new study analyzed previous research and data on the activity and health data of more than 160,000 adults worldwide. According to the BBC and The Guardian, after comparing participants who walked 2,000 steps per day to those who walked 7,000 steps per day, the results showed:
– Cardiovascular Disease – 25% lower risk
– Cancer – 37% lower risk
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– Dementia – 38% lower risk
– Depression – 22% lower risk
– Type 2 diabetes – 14% lower risk
– Overall risk of dying – 47% lower risk
Though researchers have stated that some figures may be less accurate than others as they’re drawn from a small number of studies, the results seem to indicate that even modest step counts, like 4,000, significantly improve health compared to low step counts, like 2,000 per day.
The benefits for most health conditions appeared to level off beyond 7,000 steps. While more than 7,000 steps is still beneficial, particularly for heart disease, the rate at which it reduces risk slows down.
While 10,000 steps is a suitable goal for those who are more active, he says aiming for 5,000 to 7,000 could be a “more realistic and achievable target” for others.
“The real-world implications are that people can get health benefits just from small increases in physical activity, such as doing an extra 1,000 steps per day. To achieve the best reductions in risk, aiming for 5,000-7,000 per day can be recommended, which will be more achievable for many people than the unofficial target of 10,000 steps that has been around for many years.” stated Dr. Daniel Bailey, reader in sedentary behaviour and health at Brunel University of London.
