Walking 7,000 steps a day can be enough to boost your brainpower and help protect against a range of different diseases, a major study suggests.<\/p>\n
It may be a more realistic target than 10,000 steps, which is often seen as the benchmark to reach.<\/p>\n
The research, published in the Lancet Public Health, found that the figure was linked with a reduced risk of serious health issues, including cancer, dementia and heart disease.<\/p>\n
The findings could encourage more people to track their steps as a practical way to improve their health, the researchers say.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We have this perception we should be doing 10,000 steps a day,\u00a0\u00bb says lead author Dr Melody Ding, \u00ab\u00a0but it’s not evidence based\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
The figure of 10,000 steps can be traced back to a 1960s marketing campaign in Japan. In the run-up to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, a brand of pedometer was launched called the manpo-kei, which translates as \u00ab\u00a010,000-step meter\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Dr Ding says this figure was \u00ab\u00a0taken out of context\u00a0\u00bb and became an unofficial guideline, which many fitness trackers and apps continue to recommend.<\/p>\n
The Lancet study analysed previous research and data on the health and activity of more than 160,000 adults around the world.<\/p>\n
Compared with those who walked 2,000 steps a day, it found that 7,000 steps was linked to reduced risk of:<\/p>\n
However, the researchers say some figures could be less accurate than others as they are drawn from only a small number of studies.<\/p>\n
Overall, their review suggests even modest step counts of around 4,000 steps a day are linked to better health compared to very low activity of just 2,000 steps a day.<\/p>\n
For most health conditions, the benefits tended to level off beyond 7,000 steps although there were additional advantages to walking further for the heart.<\/p>\n
Most exercise guidelines focus on time spent doing physical activity over step counts.<\/p>\n
For example, the World Health Organization says adults should do at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity every week.<\/p>\n
Dr Ding says this advice can sometimes be difficult for people to understand but the current guidelines still serve an important purpose.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0There are people who swim, cycle, or have physical disabilities that don’t allow them to take steps,\u00a0\u00bb she explains.<\/p>\n
But she says a recommendation on the number of steps people should take could be included as an \u00ab\u00a0addition\u00a0\u00bb that would \u00ab\u00a0prompt people to think about spreading their physical activities throughout the day\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Dr Daniel Bailey, a sedentary behaviour and health expert from Brunel University London, says the study challenges the \u00ab\u00a0myth\u00a0\u00bb that 10,000 steps a day is necessary.<\/p>\n
While 10,000 steps is a suitable goal for those who are more active, he says aiming for 5,000 to 7,000 could be a \u00ab\u00a0more realistic and achievable target\u00a0\u00bb for others.<\/p>\n
Dr Andrew Scott, senior lecturer in clinical exercise physiology at the University of Portsmouth, agrees the exact number isn’t important.<\/p>\n
He says \u00ab\u00a0more is always better\u00a0\u00bb and people shouldn’t worry too much about hitting a specific target, especially on days when activity is limited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Walking 7,000 steps a day can be enough to boost your brainpower and help protect against a range of different diseases, a major study suggests. It may be a more realistic target than 10,000 steps, which is often seen as the benchmark to reach. The research, published in the Lancet Public Health, found that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}