Walking for your health? 7,000 steps a day is enough

10,000 per day: ask anyone how many steps they need to take to stay healthy and you will get this figure. A new study shows that it can be quite a bit less.

The figure 10,000 dates back to the 1960s, when the Japanese company Yamasa launched its pedometer. The device was called “Manpo-kei”, which literally translates as “ten thousand step meter”. The figure therefore had more to do with marketing than with scientific research into how much we need to exercise to be healthy.

The medical journal The Lancet has now come up with a more scientifically based figure. The researchers collected data from no fewer than 57 studies, involving a total of more than 160,000 people. The research team concluded that 7,000 steps a day significantly reduces the risk of a number of conditions. For example, 2,000 steps a day can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by 25 per cent, the risk of depression by 22 per cent and the risk of dementia by 38 per cent.

Taking more than 7,000 steps a day obviously has additional benefits, but the health gains are limited. Conclusion: every step counts, and the greatest benefits are for people who currently take significantly fewer than 7,000 steps but want to gradually work their way up to that number. According to I-Min Lee, professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 7,000 steps a day provide as many health benefits as 150 minutes of moderate to high-intensity exercise per week.

So put on your walking shoes and go for a stroll.

(PP with DC - Source: thelancet.com via DS - Picture: Unsplash)