Between 7,500 and 10,000 steps daily, the risk of death is lowest. But for those who walk little, picking up the pace for around thirty minutes could offer comparable benefits.
What if 10,000 steps weren’t essential?
4,800 steps. 6,200. 7,100… At the end of the day, the number displayed by a connected watch can easily give the impression of not having done enough. However, the famous objective of
10,000 steps is not a universal medical threshold. It finds its origin in particular in the Manpo-Keia Japanese pedometer marketed in the 1960s.
A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine brings an important nuance today. The researchers analyzed 103,684 adults from the UK Biobankequipped with a wrist accelerometer for seven days between 2013 and 2015. Participants were divided according to their daily number of steps: less than 5,000, 5,000 to 7,500, 7,500 to 10,000 and more than 10,000. Their mortality was then followed until November 2022.
In total, 1,697 deathsincluding 502 of cardiovascular origin, were recorded in the analyses. But this time, the researchers also looked at what pace the participants walked.
Fewer steps, but faster: the surprising result
The first observation is clear: people carrying out 7,500 to 10,000 steps per day had the lowest risk of death, regardless of their cadence. Beyond 10,000 steps, the additional benefit seemed much more limited. But the most interesting result concerns those who walk little.
In people performing less than 5,000 steps per daya cadence of at least 80 steps per minute was associated with a reduction in risk comparable to that observed in people taking 5,000 to 7,500 steps, but at a cadence of around 60 steps per minute.
The researchers summarize their observation as follows: ““Higher intensity with lower volume can provide health benefits comparable to lower intensity but higher volume.”.
An important perspective for people who have little time, physical difficulties or simply a daily life that leaves little room for walking.
Half an hour at a good pace could be the compromise
To measure intensity, the researchers used the average cadence recorded during the Most active 30 minutes of the daynot necessarily consecutive.
In all the groups, a cadence around 90 to 100 steps per minute during this period was associated with the lowest risks. Among those who took fewer than 7,500 steps per day, maintaining a higher cadence for at least 30 minutes was also associated with a progressively lower risk of death.
Concretely, a “lively” walk corresponds to deeper breathing and a feeling of warmth, while still allowing you to speak in short sentences.
For Emmanuel Stamatakis, professor at Monash University quoted by CNN, the objective must above all remain compatible with real life: “There is more than one way to reduce your risk, and the goal should fit the lifestyle you actually have.”.
For someone who doesn’t have time to accumulate thousands of steps, speeding up during part of their walk might therefore be a more realistic option.
An encouraging result, but not a promise of longevity
However, you must remain cautious. The study is
observational : it shows an association, but does not prove that walking more or faster directly allows you to live longer.
The researchers themselves specify: “This is an observational study and as such cannot establish cause and effect.”.
Healthier people could, for example, also be those who naturally walk faster and more. Additionally, participants were primarily British adults aged 40 to 69, limiting extrapolation to other populations.
There remains a rather reassuring conclusion: there is not necessarily one right way to move. The number of steps, cadence and regularity can be combined differently depending on the possibilities of each person.
And for those who look at their counter with discouragement seeing that they are far from 10,000, the message is simple:
a day of 6,000 steps is not necessarily a wasted day.