Study says walking 4000 steps daily lowers risk of early death

A new study says walking a minimum of 4,000 steps a day significantly reduces one’s risk of early death.

The study also said taking 2,337 steps a day will reduce one’s risk of death specifically from cardiovascular disease.

Published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology on Wednesday, the research analysed data on nearly 227,000 people from 17 studies performed in Australia, Japan, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The study, its researchers said, set out to examine if taking up to 20,000 steps a day had health benefits.

The researchers found that there were greater health benefits as people increased their number of steps.

Adults aged 60 and above who walked between 6,000 and 10,000 steps a day saw a 42% reduction in risk of early death.

The researchers found that people under 60 who walked between 7,000 and 13,000 steps a day had a 49% reduction in risk.

But the biggest impact on risk occurred when people walked more than 7,000 steps a day, with the most benefit occurring at about 20,000 steps.

“The more steps you walk, the better the effects on your health,” said Maciej Banach, deputy editor-in-chief of the European Society of Cardiology, who is the first author of the study.

“Every increase of steps by 500-1000 steps/day may be associated with significant mortality reductions.”

The study ruled that anything below 5,000 steps a day is considered a sedentary lifestyle.

“Every increase of steps by 1000 steps/day is associated with a 15% reduction in the risk of dying from any cause,” Banach, who is also an adjunct professor of cardiology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, added.

“Every increase by 500 steps/day is associated with a 7% reduction in dying from cardiovascular disease.”