Walking At Least 7,000 Steps A Day Lowers The Person’s Mortality Rate

As we get older, we start to realize just how much impact our lifestyle has on health. Hence, people have come to appreciate walking as a form of exercise.

At this point in time, we all must be aware of the fact that physical activity is a vital component to a healthy lifestyle. How do we measure how healthy we are? One method is to take a look at the number of steps we take every single day. New research has been made and the findings suggest that taking 7,000 steps or more each day may have a lower mortality risk significantly when compared to those who live a rather sedentary lifestyle.

A Healthy Lifestyle

Public health officials have been concerned about this issue and many of them have studied the continually changing data, and they say that as new findings emerge, there are still details that have yet to be discovered. But at the very core, the benefits of specific activities are well documented and backed up.

As mentioned, continuous research is being conducted and the latest one confirms that being physically active comes with a myriad of health benefits, one of which is the reduction of the risk of mortality. A recent study has been published in JAMA and it states how taking at least 7,000 steps a day may decrease this risk by a good 50 to 70 percent.

The Physical Activity Benefits

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated, being physically active comes with benefits, particularly in the person’s physical and mental health. Regular physical activity can do the following:

1. Help maintain and even improve the person’s thinking and learning skills
2. Improve the quality of sleep
3. Strengthen bones and muscles
4. Reduce the risks for suffering from depression and anxiety
5. Decrease the risks of cardiovascular disease
6. Decrease the risk for type 2 diabetes
7. Reduce the risks of acquiring certain cancers

Doctors have specific recommendations for physical activity, and this may vary from one person to the next, and scientists continue to work hard to collect data on this. One area of interest they’ve had concerns the health benefits of taking a specific number of steps per day.

For instance, a study published in 2020 found that the associated mortality risk for those who took 8,000 steps a day was much lower. They compared this data with those who took only 4,000 steps each day. Then, another study that was done also in 2020 found that a higher step count for 70-year-olds was linked to lower incidence rates for diabetes. As more information and data come out, researchers have worked hard to adapt the new physical exercise guidelines. And the most recent study adds to the growing evidence of the need for increased physical activity.

Link between Increased Step Count and Decreased Mortality

The research was part of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults prospective cohort study. This said study recruited participants from four US states. A secondary study was also conducted and the team behind it recruited a subset of 2,110 participants between the ages of 38 and 50, and 1,205 of whom were women and 888 of whom were black.

The authors of the study stated, “Our study extends research by examining a prospective cohort of middle-aged men and women of Black and white race and the association of steps with premature mortality, considered deaths earlier than U.S. population mean life expectancy.”

Between the years 2005 to 2006, the participants were asked to wear an accelerometer for 7 days. This was used to measure their average step counts. This was only removed when they slept and engaged in water-based activities. Then, they followed up with the participants after around 10.8 years later. During this follow-up period, 72 (3.4%) of then had passed away.

The team grouped the daily step counts into three categories:

• Low: Fewer than 7,000 steps per day
• Moderate: 7,000–9,999 steps per day
• High: 10,000 steps or more per day

As the researchers calculated the participants’ average daily step counts, they also accounted for the average step intensity. This means that the highest number of steps per minute in any 30 minutes was measured. They also kept close watch on the amount of time each day they were taking 100 steps a minute or more. The researchers also considered several factors that were linked to health such as:

1. Smoking history
2. Weight
3. Body mass index
4. Cholesterol and fasting blood glucose levels
5. Medications for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes used
6. Cardiovascular disease
7. Alcohol intake
8. Blood pressure

The researchers also applied the multivariable that was adjusted Cox proportional hazards models. They were then able to calculate the mortality risk for those involved. The team discovered that those who took 7,000 steps or more per day had around 50 to 70 percent lower mortality risks as compared to those who took fewer. It’s also important to note that taking more than 10,000 steps per day was not associated with a greater reduction in mortality risk.

The analysis made did not show a link between step intensity and mortality risk. This shows that the number of steps matters more than intensity. But the participants who had the greatest step intensity also took the highest number of steps. Thus, it was challenging for them to get to a solid conclusion about the effects of step intensity.

The Strengths and Limitations of the Study

This study has given everyone deeper insight into the benefits of increased physical activity via step count among middle-aged individuals. In an interview with Medical News Today, Prof. Juan Franco, a primary care expert and the editor-in-chief of BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, he pointed out the strengths of the study. He said, “The study identified that participants with a higher step count per day had lower mortality rates than those with a lower step count. They considered other risk-important factors associated with death and had a long follow-up (over 10 years), which is a big strength of the study. Moreover, this fits with previous research that shows that people who do more physical activity have a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other diseases.”

While the analysis gives crucial insights, there are still findings needed to be made. They need to find the association between step intensity and mortality. This further research may find the answers they need, and the authors are aware of the fact.

They also pointed out other limitations such as the following:

• The study could not establish causality, because of the nature of the research conducted.
• There was a risk of errors in the data collection, analysis, and other health factors. These were all not accounted for in the latest research.
• The researchers were not able to accurately measure mortality risk for those who took 12,000 steps per day or more.
• Because it was part of a longer study, there were risks such as selection bias considered.
• Due to the low death rate, the team could not thoroughly look into the particular causes of mortality among groups that come from a variety of races and sexes.
• The accelerometer analysis may not have taken periods of walking that lasted under a minute.
• The intensity metrics might not be a reflection of step intensity and patterns that are representative of everyday life.
• The accelerometer in the study differs from other gadgets that people commonly use to count steps. This means that the results may not be the same or applicable for the other gadgets.

Prof. Franco also said that it is important to consider other health factors. He said to MNT, “People with a higher daily step count may be healthier by other unmeasured factors in their lifestyle, which might have also contributed to this difference. That means that step count is part of a bigger picture of differences in a physically active lifestyle that can explain what makes people have lower mortality. This is important, since we do not want to give the general public the impression that getting a Fitbit and achieving more than 7,000 steps, in itself, will lower their mortality.”

Recommendations Moving Forward

The study does generally provide sufficient evidence that an increased step count is linked to a reduced mortality rate. This is already helpful on its own, but future research can look into other potential health benefits of increased step counts.

Dr. Nicole L. Spartano, from the Boston University School of Medicine, emphasized the need for an invited commentary article. She feels that further research should hone in on areas other than mortality risk. She explained, “Mortality is not the only matter of concern, when it comes to developing a guideline for health promotion, and we also need to expand our study beyond cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. It is critical to focus our investigations on other health outcomes, such as quality of life, years of healthy life, mobility, mental health, and dementia and Alzheimer disease.”