With a few thousand steps every day, you could live a longer life.
On Aug. 9, the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology published a study that showed it takes as few as 3,967 steps daily to start reducing the risk of early death from all causes. The number drops to 2,337 daily steps to begin lowering the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. Scientists haven’t identified a limit on a healthy amount of steps in a day, as over 20,000 steps a day continue to provide health benefits.
The average age of the participants in the study was 64, and 49% of the participants were female. The participants received a follow-up with an average of seven years to see how step counts correlated to cardiovascular and all-cause mortality risks.
Steps can be tracked with a pedometer, smartphone or smartwatch. Activities like walking a dog, walking to nearby stores instead of driving or parking further away from the door can add more steps into a person’s day.
Of course, diet and other forms of exercise are recommended just as much, if not more, in addition to walking.
Before the study was published, there was a widespread belief that 10,000 steps a day were the key to a healthy lifestyle.
