- A new study reports that people can get health benefits from 9,000 to 10,500 steps a day, even if they’re sedentary the rest of the time.
- Researchers said these number of steps lowered mortality risk by 39% and cardiovascular risk by 21%
- Experts say that other exercise, such as swimming and bicycling, can also help improve heart health.
A new study has some encouraging news for people who have trouble finding time to exercise.
Researchers say every step you take toward the goal of 10,000 steps per day reduces the risk of death and cardiovascular disease.
In addition, they say you get these health benefits, even if you are sedentary most of the rest of the day.
The researchers published their findings today in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
The researchers, led by scientists at the University of Sydney/Charles Perkins Centre in Australia, accessed data on 72,174 individuals, with an average age 61. About 58% of the subjects were female.
The individuals were enrolled in the UK Biobank study – a major biomedical database – and wore an accelerometer device on their wrist for 7 days to measure physical activity and time spent sedentary (sitting or lying down while awake).
The study authors said in a release that previous studies have shown higher daily step counts are associated with lower levels of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and death while others have linked high levels of sedentary behavior with increased risks of death and CVD.
However, none of the studies looked at whether high levels of physical activity can offset, or lessen, the higher risk of death and CVD associated with time spent sedentary.
The researchers looked at median step count for the study subjects who logged 6,222 steps per day and those who tallied 2,200 steps per day, which was the lowest 5% of daily steps among participants.
They used those measurements as the reference point to assess the impact on death and CVD events with increasing step count.
The study participants’ median…
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