2,337 steps a day could start to reduce the risk of dying from heart and circulatory diseases.
A study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology in 2023, which analysed 17 previous studies involving over 200,000 people, found it.
Many of us have heard that walking 10,000 steps a day is best for our health.
As a result, various step-counting apps and watches have become very popular over the years.
The new study has suggested that maybe 10,000 steps is not the magic solution we think it is.
Moreover, at least 3,867 steps were found to decrease the risk of death from any cause. The study also discovered that every additional 1,000 steps a day were associated with a 15 percent reduction in the risk of death.
For those aged 60 and over, the biggest improvement in health was seen in people taking 6,000 to 10,000 steps, after which the benefits become lower in level. And for younger ages, it was between 7,000 and 13,000 steps.
The study authors concluded: “This meta-analysis demonstrates a significant inverse association between daily step count and all-cause mortality and cardiovascular (CV) mortality with more the better over the cut-off point of 3,867 steps/day for all-cause mortality and only 2,337 steps for CV mortality.”
Separate research, published in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal in 2022, stated that people who walked “up to” 10,000 steps daily had a lower risk of dying. However, it added that how fast you walk could also have an impact on your health.
It is to note that 10,000 steps equates to almost five miles or eight kilometres, which takes people between one and two hours to walk. It will burn between 300 to 800 calories, depending on your weight and height.
