Can 7,000 steps a day keep chronic diseases at bay?

Most people consider walking as a good form of exercise.

For years, walking 10,000 steps a day has been considered to be the norm for having good health and keeping weight under control.

However, a new study shows that walking even 7,000 steps a day can significantly improve health.

According to The Lancet Public Health, 7,000 steps a day can halve several health issues as well as reduce the chances of early death.

“You don’t need to hit 10,000 steps a day to get major health benefits,” Paddy Dempsey, a study co-author and medical researcher at Cambridge University, said.

Let us take a closer look at some of the finer points of the study.

What does the new study show?

The Lancet Public Health journal examined 57 previous studies that covered 160,000 people.

The review, conducted by an international team of researchers, was intended to understand the effect of increasing your step count on your health.

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The study found that walking 7,000 steps a day nearly halved the risk of early death from all causes compared to 2,000 steps.

It reduces mortality rate by cardiovasculcar disease by 25 per cent, cancer by six per cent, type two diabetes by 14 per cent, dementia by 38 per cent, depression by 22 per cent and falls by 28 per cent.

It also looked into the other health problems that were not previously covered by research into step counts.

“The biggest gains happen before 7,000 steps, and then benefits tend to level off,” Dempsey said.

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Beyond 7,000 steps, the data consistently showed a plateau in the curve across many outcomes.

What should light walkers do?

Dempsey emphasised that people already managing 10,000 or more steps should keep it up.

Taking 10,000 steps is about an hour of walking.

But he had a message for people who might find 7,000 steps daunting: “don’t be discouraged”.

“If you’re only getting 2,000–3,000 steps a day, aim to add an extra 1,000 steps. That’s just 10-15 minutes of light walking spread across the day,” he said.

Andrew Scott, a researcher at the University of Portsmouth, not involved in the study, said that “it demonstrates that overall more is always better”.

“People should not focus too much on the numbers, particularly on days where activity is limited,” he added.

The World Health Organisation recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity a week. Nearly a third of people worldwide do not reach this target, according to the WHO.

Why is physical exercise important?

According to earlier studies, physical inactivity is a silent epidemic.

As per the World Health Organisation, one in three adults globally doesn’t exercise, leading to higher chances of heart attacks, stroke and even cancer.

All of this can be avoided by simply walking.

It is one of the easiest exercises one can do.

You can save money as you do not have to pay hefty gym memberships or buy weights.

With inputs from agencies