Walking is one of the healthiest exercises we can do at any age, but how and for how long should we do it to get all its benefits? Normally, the minimum number of steps necessary for our walk to be advantageous for health is established at 10,000. And it doesn’t seem like a random number, as the authors of two new studies have concluded that taking 10,000 steps a day helps reduce the risk of dementia, cardiovascular disease, cancer and premature death, but they have also found that the pace of walking is key, as walking faster showed more benefits than more steps.
The studies have been published in the scientific journals JAMA Internal Medicine and JAMA Neurology and have involved more than 78,000 adults – with an average age of 61 years – who were monitored using wearable trackers (activity bracelets), so it is one of the largest carried out to date to objectively analyze the relationship between the number of steps and the intensity of exercise and health benefits.
Both works have been carried out by researchers from the University of Sydney (Australia) and the University of Southern Denmark, who found that taking 10,000 steps a day was associated with a lower risk of dementia, heart disease, cancer and death, but that walking at a good pace was even more important. “The bottom line here is that for protective health benefits, people ideally could not only aim to take 10,000 steps a day, but also walk faster,” said Dr. Matthew Ahmadi, a researcher at the University of Sydney and co-senior author.
“For less active people, our study also shows that as few as 3,800 steps a day can reduce the risk of dementia by 25%,” said co-senior author Associate Professor Borja del Pozo Cruzfrom the University of Southern Denmark and principal researcher in health at the University of Cádiz.
The main findings of the researchers were:
Advantages of fast walking to prevent diseases
The researchers analyzed data from the UK Biobank to determine the relationship between the step counts of 78,500 adults aged 40 to 79 living in the UK with their health outcomes seven years later. Participants wore a wrist-worn accelerometer to measure physical activity over a seven-day period (minimum three days, including one weekend day and monitoring during sleep periods).
“For less active people, our study also shows that as few as 3,800 steps a day can reduce the risk of dementia by 25%.”
Participants consented to this information being linked to their health data from various sources, including hospitals, primary care registries, and cancer and death registries. Only those who did not have cardiovascular disease, cancer or dementia at the beginning of the study and were free of disease in the first two years of the study were included in the final evaluation. Factors that could alter the results were also taken into account, such as the fact that people who take more steps tend to walk faster.
The researchers have explained that the studies are observational, so it is not possible to show direct cause and effect, but that strong and consistent associations have been found in both studies at the population level. “The size and scope of these studies using wrist-based trackers make them the strongest evidence to date suggesting that 10,000 steps a day is the sweet spot for health benefits and that faster walking is associated with additional benefits,” said Dr. Matthew Ahmadi, adding, “Advancing more research with long-term use of trackers will shed more light on the health benefits associated with certain levels and intensity of daily steps.”
“Step counting is easy to understand and widely used by the public to track activity levels thanks to the growing popularity of fitness trackers and apps, but people rarely think about the pace of their steps,” said lead author Emmanuel Stamatakis, professor of physical activity, lifestyle and population health at the University of Sydney. “The findings from these studies could inform the first formal step-based physical activity guidelines and help develop effective public health programs aimed at preventing chronic disease.”
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