How many steps should you walk a day for optimal health? Recommendations vary widely, making any answer seem like a shot in the dark , at best. An international study published last year in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology offers some more concrete advice, with a twist. How many steps you walk every day matters, the authors say—but so does your pace.
Researchers found that walking faster was associated with a reduced risk of death, regardless of the number of steps taken per day. That makes sense, they say, because moderate-to-vigorous exercise is considered to be the most beneficial when it comes to cardiovascular health. The U.
S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week for most adults, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity. This study isn’t the first to find that the faster one walks , the more health benefits the person should expect.
A 2022 U.K.-based study found that the more steps a day, up to around 10,000, the lower one’s risk of dementia, and that walking quickly might lower dementia risk as well.
And a 2022 Brazil-based study found that the greater the number of daily steps—and the quicker the pace of those steps—the less likely someone was to suffer from arterial stiffness. Walking at a pace of around 100 steps/minute, 30 minutes a day, five days a week would meet the weekly requirements for moderate exercise for older adults, Brazilian researchers stated. A 2011 in.