A new study confirms that walking between 9,000 and 10,000 steps per day is good for cardiovascular health.
- Walking between 9,000 and 10,000 is associated with a 39% reduction in the risk of death and a 21% reduction in cardiovascular disease.
- From 4,000 to 4,500 steps per day, the benefit obtained is 50%.
- The WHO estimates that a sedentary lifestyle causes 3.2 to 5 million deaths per year worldwide.
It is often said that walking 10,000 steps a day is good for your health. It’s still scientifically proven, thanks to a new study published in the journal British Journal of Sports Medicine.
21% lower risk of cardiovascular disease
The researchers of theUniversity of Sydney, in Australia, conducted a study of more than 72,000 people who wore wrist measuring devices for seven days. These measured their physical activity, their number of daily steps and the time they spent in a sedentary position while awake. The average age of participants was 61 years and the majority (58%) were women.
The median number of steps per day was 6,222. The 5% of participants walking the least did only 2,200 daily. Sedentary time was considered high from 10.6 hours per day and low before this duration. Risk factors – such as age, alcohol consumption, tobacco consumption, education, diet, family history, etc. – were taken into account.
For 6.9 years, researchers tracked participants’ health on average, via their hospitalization data and death records. Over this period, 1,633 participants died and there were 6,190 cardiovascular health problems.
Armed with this data, the researchers therefore calculated that the ideal number of steps per day to counteract a high sedentary time was between 9,000 and 10,000. This figure was associated with a 39% reduction in the risk of death and a 21% reduction in cardiovascular disease, even among very sedentary people. Scientists note that from 4,000 to 4,500 steps per day, the benefit obtained is 50%.
Walk every day, 10,000 steps or less
“This contains an important public health message that all movement counts and that people can and should try to offset the health consequences of unavoidable sedentary time by increasing their daily step count.”, indicates Dr Matthew Ahmadi, main author of this study, in a communicated.
However, the researchers emphasize that this link between the number of steps and risk reduction does not mean that there is a direct and systematic effect of one on the other, because this is only one study observational. Additionally, other factors may not have been taken into account by the researchers, which could lead to different results.
But these limitations of study should not discourage you from walking! This remains an effective and accessible way to combat a sedentary lifestyle which has serious consequences on health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it constitutes the fourth risk factor for non-communicable diseases and is the cause of 3.2 to 5 million deaths per year worldwide.
