Even a few steps a day have health benefits, according to a large study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
The analysis concerns 226.889 people who participated in 17 different studies around the world. As it turns out, even 2.337 steps per day reduced the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, while walking at least 3.967 steps per day began to reduce the risk of death from any cause.
Of course, it is emphasized that the more we walk, the greater the benefits for our health. The risk of death from any cause or from cardiovascular disease decreases significantly with each additional 500 to 1.000 steps. An increase of 1.000 steps each day was associated with a 15% reduction in the risk of death from any cause, and an increase of 500 steps per day was associated with a 7% reduction in the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
"We found that this was true for both men and women, regardless of age and regardless of whether they lived in a temperate, subtropical or subpolar region of the world, or in a region with mixed climates," says lead researcher Maciej Banach. , Professor of Cardiology at the Medical University of Lodz in Poland and Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
In people aged 60 and over, the magnitude of the reduction in the risk of death was smaller than that seen in people under 60. In those who were older there was a 42% reduction in risk when they walked between 6.000 and 10.000 steps a day, while in younger adults the risk reduction was 49% when they walked 7.000 to 13.000 steps a day.
According to data from the World Health Organization, insufficient physical activity is the fourth leading cause of death in the world, with 3,2 million deaths per year related to physical inactivity.
Source: RES-EAP