August 8th 2023.
It's no surprise that hitting the daily goal of 10,000 steps is the benchmark for those looking to boost their health. The idea was first suggested by a Japanese marketing team advertising a pedometer, and although it may not have been backed by science, numerous studies have since confirmed the benefits of hitting this goal.
A new study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology shows that even walking less than 10,000 steps a day still has significant health benefits. An analysis of 226,889 people from 17 different studies found that the risk of dying from any health-related cause, including cardiovascular disease, decreases significantly with every extra 500 to 1,000 steps taken. Walking just 2,337 steps a day reduces the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and increasing it by 1,000 steps a day is associated with a 15% reduction in the risk of dying from any cause.
The study demonstrated that walking has many benefits for all ages and genders, regardless of where they live. Maciej Banach, professor of cardiology at the Medical University of Lodz, Poland, said: “Our study confirms that the more you walk, the better.”
The World Health Organization estimates that 3.2 million deaths a year are related to physical inactivity and that more women than men and people in higher income countries do not undertake a sufficient amount of physical activity each week. Walking is a great way to boost health and it’s free.
Surprisingly, the study found no upper limit to the number of steps that increased health benefits. Senior author Dr Ibadete Bytyçi, from the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo, said: “It’s not been clear what is the optimal number of steps, both in terms of the cut-off points over which we can start to see health benefits, and the upper limit, if any, and the role this plays in people’s health.”
However, the study did have limitations. It was an observational study, so could only show increased step count is associated with a reduction in the risk of death, not caused by it. Additionally, the methods for counting steps were not identical across the studies.
Professor Banach concluded: “In a world where we have more and more advanced drugs to target specific conditions such as cardiovascular disease, I believe we should always emphasize that lifestyle changes, including diet and exercise, which was a main hero of our analysis, might be at least as, or even more effective in reducing cardiovascular risk and prolonging lives. We still need good studies to investigate whether these benefits may exist for intensive types of exertion, such as marathon running and iron man challenges, and in different populations of different ages, and with different associated health problems. However, it seems that, as with pharmacological treatments, we should always think about personalizing lifestyle changes.”
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