Scientists identify optimum number of daily steps that can help you live longer

By Jim Leffman via SWNS

The optimum number of daily steps needed to help people live longer has been calculated by scientists.

With fitbits and mobile phones now carrying step sensors, more and more people are keeping an eye on how many steps a day they are doing.

Number crunchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst looked at data from 15 studies involving nearly 50,000 people from four continents.

They said the oft-repeated 10,000-steps-a-day mantra grew out of a decades-old marketing campaign for a Japanese pedometer, with no science to back up the impact on health. So they set out to find what the right number of steps really is.

Physical activity epidemiologist Assistant Professor Amanda Paluch at the university said the results, published in the journal Lancet Public Health, showed that taking more steps a day helps lower the risk of premature death.

In the over-60s the risk of premature death levelled off at about 6,000-8,000 steps per day, with more steps having no added benefit.

For the under-60s the optimum number was 8,000-10,000 steps per day.

She said: "What we saw was this incremental reduction in risk as steps increase, until it levels off and the leveling occurred at different step values for older versus younger adults.

"Interestingly, the research found no definitive association with walking speed, beyond the total number of steps per day."

The new research supports and expands findings from another study published last September in JAMA Network Open, which found that walking at least 7,000 steps a day reduced middle-aged people’s risk of premature death.

The team combined the evidence from the studies that investigated the effect of daily steps on all-cause mortality among adults age 18 and older.

They grouped the nearly 50,000 participants into four comparative groups according to average steps per day.

The lowest step group averaged 3,500 steps; the second, 5,800; the third, 7,800; and the fourth, 10,900 steps per day.

Among the three higher active groups who got more steps a day, there was a 40-53 percent lower risk of death, compared to the lowest quartile group who walked fewer steps, according to the meta-analysis.

Prof Paluch added: “Steps are very simple to track, and there is a rapid growth of fitness tracking devices.

“It’s such a clear communication tool for public health messaging.

“The major takeaway is there’s a lot of evidence suggesting that moving even a little more is beneficial, particularly for those who are doing very little activity.

“More steps per day are better for your health."