- Current research suggests that walking 8,000 brisk steps or more per day may be a sweet spot for health benefits.
- People who have trouble finding time to walk every day of the week should be encouraged by a new study showing that walking just one to two days is still associated with a significant reduction in all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.
- The study authors found that each additional day of walking provided greater benefits.
A brisk walk of 8,000 or more steps each day of the week is associated with a significant reduction in all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. A new study found, however, that people who took just 8,000 steps one or two days a week were also less likely to die during a 10-year follow-up period.
The study was published JAMA Network Open Over a decade of follow-up, those aged 20 and over who took 8,000 or more steps one or two days a week were 14.9% less likely to die than those who were sedentary.
The risk of death decreased as the number of days involved increased. For example, exercising three to seven days a week was associated with a 16.5% reduction in all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.
The same pattern holds true for people meeting step goals of 6,000 to 10,000 steps.
Previous research It has been shown that the risk of death decreases by up to 10,000 steps per day for people under 60 and up to 8,000 for people over 60.
The research findings relate to both “weekend warriors,” who limit their exercise to non-work days, and those who sneak in a few hours of walking during the week.
As noted in the study Latest information The average American takes only 4,800 steps a day, too few to provide many health benefits.
“Brisk walking” is Defined Like walking three miles an hour. If you can talk the lyrics but not sing them, you’re walking fast.
The current study compared US data from 2005 and 2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey with National Death Index As of 2019. It included accelerometer data from 3,101 participants aged 20 years and older and was a nationally representative sample. It included equal numbers of women and men and was 50.9% white, 21.5% black, 23.7% Hispanic, and 3.9% other races and ethnicities.
Participants walking 8,000 or more steps per day were more likely to be young, male, Hispanic, insured, and married. They were also generally never smokers and less likely to be obese or cohabiting.
For many people, walking 8,000 steps per day requires a significant commitment of time. 8,000 steps is about four miles, which comes to a total of about an hour and 20 minutes per day walking at three miles per hour. Steps can be taken simultaneously or in short bursts of brisk walking.
The research was led by Dr Dr. Kosuke Inoue Kyoto University in Japan is collaborating with researchers from UCLA in California. Dr. Eno explained why this research was done:
“We started this study to answer a question one of my patients asked during an outpatient clinic: ‘It’s hard for me to get enough steps every day. Is it okay to focus on walking only on weekends?’
Step studies often consider the value of different step goals per week, and Dr. Inoue noted a lack of evidence on the potential benefits of walking just a few days a week.
“Given that lack of time is one of the main barriers to exercise in modern society,” Dr. Inoue said, “our findings provide useful information to recommend walking a few days a week to reduce mortality risk.”
“This is one of the first studies to use direct measures of daily steps using wearable accelerometers over a 10-year follow-up period,” said Dr. Paul Arcirois a professor in the Department of Health and Human Physiological Sciences at Skidmore College, who was not involved in the research.
Walking is seen as an easy, low-impact way to make a person’s life less sedentary. A sedentary lifestyle has been associated with an increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.
“In addition, a sedentary lifestyle increases the risk of cardiometabolic diseases such as abdominal obesity, high blood pressure (hypertension), type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease and certain inflammatory conditions, and cancer,” said Dr. Arciro.
According to Harvard Medical School, one has additional, less-obvious benefits to taking action. Walking offsets the effects of weight-promoting genes, reduces the risk of breast cancer and boosts one’s immune system. It can reduce arthritis-based joint pain, even with a 15-minute walk Curb your cravings for chocolateBoth normally and stress response.
Research findings should provide valuable information for physicians and health professionals, Dr. Inoue said. He suggested that while the reader’s acceptance should be that people who have difficulty exercising regularly, “achieving the recommended daily steps just a few days per week can have meaningful health benefits.”
Describing the study’s conclusions as “encouraging,” Dr. Arciro suggests that the research could help people who don’t have enough time to walk 8,000 steps a day overcome feelings that walking less is pointless.
“We now have scientific evidence that proves this mindset is not true, and even beneficial some days!” Dr. Arciro said.
He said the research underscores the value of increasing one’s daily step count:
“Always a good reminder that any amount of walking, even one to two days per week, is still better than no walking at all.”
