7,000 Steps A Day Can Reduce The Risk Of Early Death By 47 Per Cent: Study

The 10,000-step target has long been a commonly recognised daily fitness standard. Expert opinion and recent research, however, indicate that 10,000 steps might not be required for everyone and that fewer steps could still have significant health advantages.

A recent study, published on Wednesday in The Lancet Public Health, suggests that even 5,000 to 7,000 steps a day can have a significant positive impact on one's health. Moreover, walking about 7,000 steps a day can significantly reduce the risk of early death by 47 per cent, it said.

It evaluated the prospective dose-response connection between daily steps and health outcomes, such as falls, cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, all-cause mortality, cognitive and mental health outcomes, and physical function.

Researchers at the University of Sydney analysed data from 57 studies involving over 160,000 adults and found that walking just 7,000 steps a day reduced the risk of several health problems, such as falls (28%), dementia (38%), depression (22%), cancer (6%), cardiovascular disease (25%), and death from any cause (47%).

Minimal exercise is still better than none at all, according to research, so the study still reveals that even 2,000 steps a day might have a positive impact on health.

Melody Ding, the study's lead author and a professor of public health at the University of Sydney, advised those currently inactive to strive for 7,000 steps, but those who have already achieved 10,000 should not return to 7,000.

The researchers found that every 1,000 extra steps done has a "return on investment," and that even 4,000 steps a day reduced the risk of disease when compared to very low activity levels, per The Guardian.

The study helped "debunk" the idea that 10,000 steps a day should be the target for optimum health, according to Dr. Daniel Bailey, reader in sedentary behaviour and health at Brunel University of London.

The results emphasise how important it is to be active, even though step count does not gauge the calibre or intensity of exercise.

Staten Island University Hospital chairman of medicine Dr Theodore Strange, who was not involved in the study, told The New York Post that "steps are part of just exercising, and exercising is part of an aerobic activity."

For example, if you walk at a moderately fast pace of 15 minutes per mile, you may finish the 7,000 steps, or about 3.5 miles, in about an hour. "We should schedule a specific time of day where we are actively exercising and dedicate ourselves to it," he added.