Increasing daily step count up to around 10,000 steps per day has been found to reduce the risk of death and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in a large population-based study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Prior research has shown conflicting results regarding the relationship between daily step counts, sedentary behavior, and risks of death and CVD. This study aimed to investigate whether higher levels of physical activity could offset the increased risk of death and CVD associated with sedentary time.
The study, led by the University of Sydney/Charles Perkins Centre, analyzed data from 72,174 individuals enrolled in the UK Biobank study. Participants wore an accelerometer device on their wrist for seven days to measure their physical activity, including daily step count and time spent sedentary.
The results showed that increasing step count up to 10,000 steps per day was associated with a reduction in mortality risk by 39% and incident CVD risk by 21%. Half of the benefit was achieved at around 4000 to 4500 steps per day.
Although this study is observational and cannot establish cause and effect, the findings suggest that any amount of daily steps above 2200 steps per day can lower mortality and incident CVD risk. The authors recommend accumulating between 9000 and 10,000 steps per day for optimal health benefits.
The study concludes that these results can help inform public health guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behavior, providing specific recommendations on daily step goals.
Source:
Journal reference:
Ahmadi, M. N., et al. (2024). Do the associations of daily steps with mortality and incident cardiovascular disease differ by sedentary time levels? A device-based cohort study. British Journal of Sports Medicine. doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2023-107221.