The 10,000 steps goal is a myth. Depending on your age, you could reap the benefits from less than a quarter of that figure
MEDICINE
If you’ve ever used a wearable exercise monitor, you may be familiar with the celebratory buzz when you hit your daily target of 10,000 steps – and the disappointment when your count falls short of that mark.
But a new study reveals that you begin reaping health benefits when you take as few as 3,967 daily steps – benefits that have the potential to reduce your risk of dying from a range of causes. The research also found that a minimum of 2,337 steps was enough to reduce your risk of death from cardiovascular diseases specifically.
Published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, the paper brought together data from 17 existing studies involving 226,889 people.
It’s the first to assess the impacts of walking up to 20,000 steps a day, as well as whether the risk of dying differs depending on age, sex and where in the world people live.
The study found that the more you walk, the better – regardless of your age, sex or the climatic conditions in your home region.
In fact, the scientists behind the study found that every additional 1,000 steps a day you take on top of the minimum reduces your risk of death by 15 per cent.
These benefits keep increasing with no upper limit, according to the scientists. The data reveals that for those walking fanatics who take as many as 20,000 strides a
