Why just 7K steps a day can boost your health: ‘Some is better than none’

A new study showed 7,000 steps resulted in a 37 per cent lower risk of death from cancer and 47 per cent lower risk of overall death.

Did you get your steps in today? Well, a new study shows your goal may not have to be as high as it once was to help your health.

The study, published this week in The Lancet, found that walking about 7,000 steps per day reduces the risk of several serious health outcomes, including a roughly 47 per cent drop in the overall risk of dying.

Scientists analyzed 57 studies of more than 160,000 adults, finding that those who walked 7,000 steps also saw their risk of cardiovascular disease drop 25 per cent and their dementia risk decrease by 38 per cent.

Just 7,000 steps also resulted in a 37 per cent lower risk of death from cancer and a 47 per cent drop in dying from cardiovascular disease.

But the study found that even a moderate amount, 4,000 steps, could still see better health outcomes, with a 36 per cent drop in overall risk of death compared with 2,000 steps.

“It reinforces the message that some is better than none and more is better than some,” said Mark Tremblay, a senior scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute.

The 7,000 steps could also be “more realistic” for people to achieve, the study notes, when compared with the 10,000 steps previously believed to be needed.

A 2019 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine says the origin of 10,000 steps is still not clear, but that it “likely derives” from the trade name of a pedometer sold in 1965 by Yamasa Clock and Instrument Company in Japan. The device was called Manpo-kei, which translates to “10,000 steps metre” in Japanese.