Walking 4,000 steps a day helps you live longer

People are less likely to die from all causes if they walk at least 3,967 steps a day, according to a new study. Meanwhile, 2,337 steps a day reduced the chance of people dying from heart disease; however, a quarter of the world's population do not get enough exercise to reap the benefits.

The findings were analysed from 226,889 people across 17 studies. It was revealed adding 1,000 steps a day reduced the chance of dying by 15 per cent, with a seven percent lower chance of dying from cardiovascular disease if you reach an extra 500 steps.

People under 60 felt the benefits of walking the most. Super keen walkers who managed 20,000 steps a day continued to multiply the health benefits.

Younger adults also achieved a 49 per cent reduction in their risk of death according to the study by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Medical University of Lodz, Poland, all thanks to walking between 7,000 and 13,000 steps a day. Meanwhile, older adults who walked between 6,000 and 10,000 steps a day reduced the risk of dying by 42 per cent.

Professor Maciej Banach, Cardiology at the Medical University of Lodz, Poland, said: “Our study confirms that the more you walk, the better. We found that this applied to both men and women, irrespective of age, and irrespective of whether you live in a temperate, sub-tropical or sub-polar region of the world, or a region with a mixture of climates.

“In addition, our analysis indicates that as little as 4,000 steps a day are needed to significantly reduce deaths from any cause, and even fewer to reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease. In a world where we have more and more advanced drugs to target specific conditions such as cardiovascular disease, I believe we should always emphasise that lifestyle changes, including diet and exercise, which was a main hero of our analysis, might be at least as, or even more effective in reducing cardiovascular risk and prolonging lives.

“We still need good studies to investigate whether these benefits may exist for intensive types of exertion, such as marathon running and iron man challenges, and in different populations of different ages, and with different associated health problems. However, it seems that, as with pharmacological treatments, we should always think about personalising lifestyle changes.”

Cardiovascular diseases are strongly associated with sedentary lifestyles. The studies show a quarter of the world’s population don’t get out and about enough to achieve the benefits.

On average, women tend to move less than men, with 32 per cent moving too little versus 23 per cent in men. People from higher income countries also tend to be less active with 37 per cent not exercising enough compared to 16 per cent of those from lower income countries.

Insufficient exercise is the fourth most frequent cause of death in the world, according to WHO (World Health Organisation) data. Each year, 3.2m deaths are linked to physical inactivity – and activity levels have not recovered since they were lowered by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The team followed up participants for seven years. They had an average age of 64 and 49 per cent of them were female.

Dr Ibadete Bytyçi from the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo, Pristina, Kosovo, senior author of the paper, said of the study published in European Journal of Preventive Cardiology:  “Until now, it’s not been clear what is the optimal number of steps, both in terms of the cut-off points over which we can start to see health benefits, and the upper limit, if any, and the role this plays in people’s health.

“However, I should emphasise that there was limited data available on step counts up to 20,000 a day, and so these results need to be confirmed in larger groups of people.”