For more than 50 years, the mantra for reducing the risk of premature death was taking 10,000 steps a day. The idea persisted, even though it lacked a lot of scientific support.
Now, there’s a new number, and it’s backed by scientific proof: 8,000 steps a day. University of Grenada researchers made that conclusion, and it’s similar to other recent studies, which showed many health benefits are obtained at fewer than 10,000 steps.
For their study, the researchers set clear step targets that produce optimal results, something that had not been done before. Their work included a meta-analysis of 12 international studies involving more than 110,000 participants.
Their takeaway message is this: Health benefits are possible even with small increases in the number of daily steps. Even people who are mostly inactive had incremental health improvements with every 500 additional steps. Since not everyone can do thousands of steps a day, the researchers say the findings are good news for those looking to set small, reachable goals that can expand over time.
In the study, men and women benefited equally from consistent walking. It also found that faster walking had the strongest effect on reducing mortality, regardless of the number of steps taken.
So how much is too much when it comes to daily walking? The study found that even 16,000 steps a day poses no risk. But the number of daily steps beyond 7,200 brings diminishing returns: Reductions in mortality risk get smaller as the step count rises.
On your journey to a longer life, remember: Every step counts.