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One study found that middle-aged people can reduce their risk of premature death by more than two-thirds by taking just 7,000 steps a day.
Experts at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst had about 2,100 adults between the ages of 38 and 50 wearing an accelerometer from 2005 to 2006.
The team then monitored patients’ health outcomes for an average of 11 years.
It turns out that those who walked 7,000 steps a day were less likely to die prematurely than their peers who didn’t exercise – 70 and 63 percent, respectively, for white and black adults.
A difference in effects was also observed between the sexes, with women (72%) reducing the risk of premature death compared to men (58%).
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However, the researchers note that there are no similar associations between stride intensity and a reduced risk of premature death.
The results add to the evidence that the 10,000-step goal – popularized by a Japanese pedometer marketing campaign in 1965 – is a bit of a stretch.
Regular physical activity has significant health benefits for many conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and various types of cancer.
The World Health Organization recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity.
At a fast pace, it takes about 70 minutes for an average person to take 7,000 steps, compared to about two hours for 10,000 steps.
“This cohort study found that a larger daily step size was associated with a lower risk of premature all-cause mortality in middle-aged black and white women and men,” said the author of the study and scientist of the Amanda Balloch movement, of UMass Amherst.
“More than 10,000 steps per day was not associated with a further reduction in the risk of death,” she added.
This finding mirrors the results of several previous studies which have indicated that lower goals can be just as effective in maintaining an individual’s health.
Meanwhile, two recent studies in the United States found that walking just 4,000 steps a day can reduce the risk of death by about 30%.
The full results of the study were published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
Source: Daily Mail
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