7,000 steps a day linked to reduced risk of chronic disease and death, study finds

If you find getting your daily step-count up to 10,000 a challenge, Australian researchers have some good news: you may be able to get away with a few less steps to reap similar health benefits.

In a large new study, University of Sydney researchers associated walking 7,000 steps a day with a reduced risk of serious health issues, including heart disease, dementia and cancer.

"Seven thousand steps is a good target because it's associated broadly with a wide range of health benefits," Melody Ding, the study's lead author and University of Sydney epidemiologist, said.

Walking more than 7,000 steps a day can provide additional health benefits for some conditions, such as heart disease.

But for most health outcomes, "those benefits start to plateau" around 7,000 steps, co-author and biostatistician Katherine Owen told Radio National Breakfast.

"For a broad range of outcomes … we found 7,000 steps was the optimal number," Dr Owen said.

According to the research, published in The Lancet Public Health, even a modest step count of 4,000 steps per day was linked to better health outcomes compared with 2,000 steps.

"For those who are not very active or doing nothing, doing something is still good for you," Professor Ding said.

Daily steps linked to better health outcomes

Unlike previous research on daily step counts, which has largely focused on the connection to heart health and overall mortality risk, the researchers analysed evidence for a wide range of health outcomes.

This included cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, cognitive decline and mental health.

Researchers examined data from more than 160,000 adults across 57 studies, in which participants wore step-counting devices such as fitness trackers.

"We know that physical activity is associated with a broad range of health benefits, and steps is just one way of capturing physical activity," Professor Ding said.

The researchers found health benefits increased with every 1000-step increment, compared with low levels of activity.

But after 7,000 steps, these benefits tended to level off: the risk of all-cause mortality, for example, was almost the same at 7,000 daily steps as it was at 10,000.

For dementia, walking 10,000 steps a day produced an extra 7 per cent reduction in risk (compared with 7,000 steps).

The benefits of additional steps were slightly more pronounced for type 2 diabetes. Taking 10,000 steps produced an extra 8 per cent risk reduction, and 12,000 steps added an extra 5 per cent reduction on top of that.

Findings to inform national guidelines

University of Melbourne Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine director Kim Bennell said the study was "important".

"We often get told 10,000 steps a day is what we [should] aim for, but that's not strictly evidence-based," Professor Bennell said.

"Lower numbers can still be beneficial … and people are more likely to stick to it if they feel they can achieve it."

The research team is working with the federal government to use the findings to inform Australia's national physical activity guidelines. But they also noted some limitations of the study.

While there was a wealth of data for the team to analyse some health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, there were only a few studies available for other health indicators, including falls and cancer.

The research team suggested the findings associated with these should be treated as "exploratory" instead of conclusive.

Professor Ding also noted that they were not able to investigate how the impact of daily step counts differed for different groups of people, such as those with a higher body mass index (BMI) or older individuals.

She suggested that older people might need even fewer than 7,000 steps to get significant benefits, but more research was needed to confirm this.