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10.05.2020

You have to walk that many minutes every day if you want to live longer

If an average person walks an average of 4,000 steps throughout the day, it takes 50 minutes of his time - but scientists say he hasn't moved enough yet. If the same average individual walks not 4000 steps but 8000 steps, his chance of dying will be halved. This is evident from an epidemiological study that Pedro Saint-Maurice, associated with the American NIH, published in JAMA.

Study
Between 2003 and 2006, the researchers had a total of 4,800 people aged over 40 wear an accelerometer for a week. This enabled the researchers to measure how many steps the study participants took each day.

The researchers then followed the study participants until 2015. They kept track of which participants died - and what the medical cause of their death was.

Steps
The table below shows how many minutes it takes to walk 1000, 2000, 3000 or more steps. A healthy adult takes at least 4000 steps a day by taking the mail out of the bus, making coffee or chasing the cat from the neighbors of the balcony. The half hour of walking per day prescribed by information officers is not one of those 4000 steps.

In fact, healthy adults who do not engage in sports or physical activity should take 10,000 steps every day, health scientists think.

Results
In 2015, 1,165 participants had died. Cardiovascular disease was the leading cause of death, killing 406 people. Cancer came second, killing 283 study participants.

The more steps the study participants walked on a daily basis, the less likely they were to die. Compared to the study participants who walked 4000 steps [about 3 kilometers] daily, the participants with 8000 steps per day were 51 percent less likely to die. If the number of steps per day rose to 12000, the risk of death dropped by 65 percent.

The protective effect of the number of steps was slightly greater for cardiovascular death than for cancer death.

The researchers also split their effects by age. They found that people in their 50s and 60s who walked 10,000-12,000 steps a day could bring their mortality rates to the same level as those in their 40s who also walked 10,000-12,000 steps a day. This was no longer possible for the over-65s, but a lifestyle with 10,000-12,000 steps per day also significantly reduced the risk of death.

The researchers also determined whether it mattered at what pace the study participants walked. Contrary to other reports, this was not the case in this study.

Source:
JAMA. 2020;323(12):1151-1160.

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