In a new study from the University of North Carolina, researchers found that taking more steps per day, either all at once or in shorter spurts, may help you live longer.
Walking is one of the safest and easiest ways to improve fitness and health including heart health.
The American Heart Association’s fitness guidelines for adults recommend at least 150 minutes per week of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity, or a combination of both.
Popular fitness apps and step counters make it easy to count steps.
In the study, the team used a wearable step counting device to compare the effects of uninterrupted bouts of steps (10 minutes or longer) to occasional short spurts, such as climbing the stairs and general daily activities throughout the day.
From 2011-2015, 16,732 women wore a waist step counter that measured their daily steps and walking patterns for four to seven days.
The women were all over age 60 and were participants in the Women’s Health Study.
The researchers found that participants who took more steps in short spurts lived longer, regardless of how many steps they had in longer, uninterrupted bouts. The benefits leveled off at about 4,500 steps per day in short spurts.
Compared to no daily steps, each initial increase of 1,000 steps per day was linked to a 28% decrease in death during the follow-up period.
A 32% decrease in death was noted in participants who took more than 2,000 steps daily in uninterrupted bouts.
A prior analysis of the same women reported that those who took 4,500 steps per day had a significantly lower risk of death compared to the least active women.
The current results indicate that this finding holds even for women who did not engage in any uninterrupted bouts of walking.
Taking 2,000 or more additional steps during bouts was linked to further benefits for longevity.
The team says older adults face many barriers to participating in structured exercise programs, so some may find it more convenient and enjoyable to increase everyday walking behaviors, like parking slightly further from their destination or doing some extra housework or yard work.
If you care about exercise and your health, please read studies about 1 hour of this exercise per week may protect against heart attack, stroke and findings of this type of exercise may help control diabetes in obese people.
For more information about exercise and wellness, please see recent studies about this exercise is vital to improving older people’s health and longevity and results showing that to prevent dementia, pay attention to your exercise intensity.
The study was presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference 2021. One author of the study is Christopher C. Moore, M.S.
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