You Can Mix Up Your Daily Steps And Still Lower Risk of Death, Research Shows
There's more than one way.
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A major study examining physical activity patterns suggests that people have flexibility in how they accumulate daily steps while still gaining significant health benefits. Researchers from the University of Sydney analyzed data from over 64,000 middle-aged individuals tracked for approximately eight years, comparing various combinations of step counts and walking intensity against mortality rates during the study period.
The findings reveal that there is no single optimal approach to achieving health benefits through walking. For instance, individuals who took fewer than 5,000 steps daily but maintained a brisk pace showed similar mortality risk reductions as those who completed 5,000 to 7,500 steps at a slower speed. This suggests that individuals with time constraints can compensate by increasing their walking speed, while those unable to walk quickly may achieve comparable results by extending their daily step count.
The research, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, identified an additional benchmark: reaching a peak cadence of approximately 90 to 100 steps per minute during a person’s 30 most active minutes showed particularly strong health associations. The study challenges the widespread recommendation of 10,000 daily steps, which originated from a 1960s marketing campaign rather than scientific evidence.
While the observational nature of the study prevents definitive cause-and-effect conclusions, the large participant pool and extended timeframe provide valuable guidance for future health recommendations, suggesting that personalized step-based strategies may be more effective than one-size-fits-all approaches.
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Originally reported by Sciencealert →
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