23-07-2025
How Many Steps Do You Really Need in a Day?
Walking 10,000 steps a day has long been a fitness cliché. But new research suggests that the health benefits of walking ramp up until about 7,000 steps — before leveling out. And as daily goals go, that's a little more attainable.
The analysis, published today in the medical journal The Lancet Public Health, examined data from 57 studies and found that even moderate amounts of walking were associated with a lower risk of dementia and cardiovascular disease, among other conditions, adding to a wide body of research tying walking to longevity. People who walked 7,000 steps a day (roughly three miles) also had a 47 percent lower risk of death compared with those who walked 2,000 steps, the analysis found.
'It is just as important to walk 7,000 steps a day as it is to take your pills,' said Dr. Joshua Knowles, a cardiologist at Stanford Health Care.
The Many Benefits of Walking
Decades of research shows that walking improves metabolic health, making the heart stronger and more efficient while also reducing weight, cholesterol and blood sugar levels, said Keith Baar, a physiologist at the University of California, Davis.
While most scientific reviews have looked at how higher step counts are linked to lower risk of cardiovascular disease and death, the new analysis examined associations across a much broader range of conditions. For example, the study found that walking 7,000 steps a day was associated with a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, depressive symptoms and cancer death, when compared with 2,000 steps.
Experts said the most surprising finding was the nearly 40 percent lower risk of dementia in people who walked 7,000 versus 2,000 steps a day. While the exact mechanism isn't clear, exercise is linked to new neuron growth, greater blood flow to the brain and less neurological inflammation, said Dr. Nikhil Palekar, the director of the Stony Brook Center of Excellence for Alzheimer's Disease.
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