A recent study has revealed that walking 7,000 steps per day — fewer than the often-cited 10,000-step goal — is sufficient to maintain good health and deliver significant benefits.
Published on Wednesday in the Lancet Public Health, the meta-analysis reviewed 31 studies conducted between 2014 and 2025, examining the relationship between daily step counts and various health outcomes.
The research compared people who walked 2,000 steps daily to those who walked 7,000, finding that the latter group had a 47% lower risk of death from all causes.
Additionally, they were 25% less likely to develop cardiovascular disease, 38% less likely to suffer from dementia, and 37% less likely to die from cancer.
Walking 7,000 steps daily was also linked to a 14% reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and a 22% lower risk of depression.
While the study acknowledges that step count alone doesn’t measure exercise intensity or effectiveness, it emphasises that consistent daily movement can still provide substantial health advantages.
The researchers also discovered that even 4,000 steps per day can help reduce disease risk compared to a sedentary lifestyle. Although exceeding 7,000 steps continues to offer benefits, the incremental gains diminish with each additional 1,000 steps.
Melody Ding, the study’s lead author, noted that while those already achieving 10,000 steps should maintain their routine, 7,000 steps is a more achievable and still highly beneficial target for less active individuals.
“Those who are currently active and achieving the 10,000 steps a day, keep up the good work – there is no need to modify your step counts,” he said.
‘However, for those of us who are far from achieving the 10,000 targets, getting to 7,000 steps/day offers almost comparable health benefits for the outcomes we examined.”
However, Andrew Scott, a senior lecturer in clinical exercise physiology at the University of Portsmouth, pointed out that step counts don’t fully capture all physical activity, as exercises like cycling, swimming, and rowing aren’t accurately represented.
“The steps per day is useful when people’s exercise is weight-bearing, however cycling, swimming and rowing are not well-represented by the steps-per-day model,” he said.
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