Just 4,000 steps a day can bring great health benefits – 08/26/2023 – Equilibrium

Exercise scientists long ago debunked the idea that a person needs to take 10,000 steps a day to stay healthy and live longer. Even a little movement is good, they claim, although more is better. Now, a new study highlights that people can reap significant benefits from a comparatively small number of daily steps.

Researchers analyzed 17 studies that measured how many steps people took, typically over a period of one week, and tracked their health outcomes after about seven years. They concluded that walking just under 4,000 steps a day reduced the risk of death from any cause, including cardiovascular disease.

That translates to a 30- to 45-minute walk, or about two miles, though it varies from person to person, said Dr. Seth Shay Martin, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine and an author of the study. But the more steps you take, the better: The risk of mortality decreased by 15% for every 1,000 additional steps the participants took.

“It’s the best medicine we can recommend: just taking a walk,” said Dr. Randal Thomas, a specialist in preventive cardiology at the Mayo Clinic, who was not involved in the study.

The study couldn’t definitively prove whether the steps themselves lowered the risk of developing disease and dying, or whether people who tend to be healthier also take more steps throughout the day.

Because the researchers combined data from studies to determine the 4,000-step goal, it may not confer the same benefit for everyone, said Jennifer Heisz, associate professor at McMaster University and author of “Move the Body, Heal the Mind” [Mova o corpo, cure a mente]who did not participate in the study.

“I wouldn’t want people to think of this as a magic number, that you have to beat this exact step count,” Martin said. “It’s the more the merrier, that’s all.”

That principle is already well established in exercise research, said Dr. I-Min Lee, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an expert on step counting and health, who was also not involved in the study. But the new research emphasizes that fitness isn’t “all or nothing,” she said: Every little exercise helps. The little snippets of movement built into our day — going from the bedroom to the bathroom, running out to get a coffee — add up and make a difference, she said.

But people who don’t consider themselves to be active, or who may struggle to exercise due to chronic conditions, may underestimate the amount of movement they get, Dr. Heisz said. Taking an extra walk around the block or taking a 10-minute walk break can have a big impact.

People who are at the upper end of the step count in these studies are likely already exercising, whether it’s running or playing sports, Lee said; it’s those who actually take few steps who could benefit from moving more.

To incorporate that extra exercise, people can start by measuring their basic steps, either with a fitness tracker or a step counter included in a smartphone, and think about how to add just one walk to the day, Dr. Martin said. That could mean holding a phone meeting while walking instead of making a video call, parking your car farther away, or taking your kids to the park and running after them, he suggested.

“People think, ‘Oh well, this isn’t going to get me to 10,000 steps, I’m not even close, so why bother?'” Dr. Heisz said. “It’s disheartening stuff. But by saying this mantra that some are better than none, I think you really can get physical and mental health benefits from taking little breaks to move.”

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves