Taking just 4,000 steps a day may lower an individual’s risk of death and cardiovascular disease, researchers report today.
Professor Maciej Banach of the Medical University of Lodz, Poland, and colleagues have analysed findings from 17 studies including a total of 226,889 participants, who were followed for about seven years.
For each additional 1,000 steps, there appeared to be a 15% lower risk of all-cause mortality.
Furthermore, for each additional 500 steps, the risk of death from cardiovascular disease fell by 7%.
In the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology today, the authors write: “This meta-analysis demonstrates a significant inverse association between daily step count and all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality, with more the better over the cut-off point of 3,967 steps/day for all-cause mortality and only 2,337 steps for cardiovascular mortality.”
Professor Banach added that there appears to be no upper limit for the health benefits of more daily steps.
“Our study confirms that the more you walk, the better,” he said. “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.”
Banach, M. et al. The association between daily step count and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality: a meta-analysis. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology 9 August 2023; doi: 10.1093/eurjpc/zwad229
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