Fitness: What’s the magic number of steps to improve your health?

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One of the easiest ways to track your physical activity is to monitor your daily steps.

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With so many free step counting apps available, not only can you easily track your daily steps, but most also allow you to set goals. However, because national exercise guidelines set physical activity goals in minutes rather than steps (he does 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week), the question arises as to what the magic numbers are. remain.

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The oft-cited 10,000 steps a day is not a goal backed by rigorous epidemiological studies. Its origins date back to his 1960s marketing campaign for one of the original pedometers. The science behind the ideal number of steps you need to take per day to benefit your health is still in the discovery phase.

Before public health experts can approve an official daily step goal, research needs to be more rigorous than determining numbers designed to market pedometers. Data should be collected from diverse populations, taking into account species and ethnicity.

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It is also important to factor into the study whether step goals vary with walker pace. If you walk faster, do you need to take the same number of steps as someone moving slower? Need to take steps?

Another question is what health outcomes are associated with meeting daily goals. If you’re making every effort to achieve a healthy number of steps, you’ll want to know the benefits. Are step volumes associated with reduced risk of specific chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and obesity? Or do the health benefits fall under the more general headline of reduced risk of all-cause mortality? Is it?

Much of the collective knowledge comes from data obtained primarily from older study subjects who generally require less exercise to affect their health. Research in 2021 We feature a rare cohort of middle-aged adults.

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The study, published in JAMA Network Open, collected data from 2,110 people aged 38-50 (mean age 45) to determine the optimal number of steps and speed associated with improving health. Daily step counts were collected over his 1-year period and the group’s health status was tracked for the next 10.8 years.

Health markers were compared with daily step count to see if there was a difference in risk profile for lowest (<7,000 steps), medium (7,000–10,000 steps), or highest (≥10,000 steps) steps .

The effect of walking intensity on overall health was also considered. This was defined by his maximum number of steps during any 30-minute period of the day, and moderate intensity was defined as his 100 steps per minute. It takes fewer steps than it seems to help your health, and the pace of your steps doesn’t seem to matter.

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“Adults who walked at least 7,000 steps a day had about a 50% to 70% lower risk of death than those who walked less than 7,000 steps a day,” the researchers said.

Results did not differ between male and female, and black and white study subjects. They had a higher BMI and more hypertension and diabetes than the moderate and high walking group.

The majority (41%) of the study participants recorded 7,000 to 9,999 steps daily, which is in the moderate range, showing a 50-70% improvement in life expectancy. And contrary to the adage that more is better, the group that took more than 10,000 steps a day did not have a further reduction in mortality risk.

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As to whether increased walking intensity confers health benefits, the researchers said the fast walkers in the study took the most steps, even though pace seemed to have little effect. rice field. longevity.

These results mirror those of similar studies that suggest we are getting closer to declaring 7,000 steps a day as an ideal goal. However, this is not the most compelling finding regarding step count.

Several studies have reported that the greatest reduction in risk of death is seen in those who take few to moderate steps each day. to 4,000 steps) can double their steps, benefitting their health.

If that applies to you, or your significant other, consider downloading one of the many step counting apps available to your phone and setting a goal of 7,000 steps a day. Start walking.