Until now it was believed that the optimal number of daily steps was 10,000 to maintain a good physical condition. It was also said that half was enough. Now, a new study with sufficient scientific evidence has clarified the issue: the minimum limit is 4,000, although it warns that each extra step taken is a health benefit.
The researchers, most of whom are cardiologists, are confident that this threshold will encourage more people to take to the streets, because the goal of 10,000 steps seemed too much for them and they gave up even starting and gradually achieving it.
The 10,000 was a maximum not scientifically proven, but it became popular and the numerical concretion established the idea in the population of the importance of maintaining good health throughout life, fighting against a sedentary lifestyle and preventing diseases whose risk increases with age. (obesity, diabetes, hypertension or depression). Pedometers, applications or mobiles also allow you to control it.
So a good part of the population left home and walked. Some had, however, a bad conscience for not having reached the goal of such a round number.
The study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, is the first to suggest that walking at least 3,967 steps a day begins to reduce the risk of dying from any cause, while 2,337 steps a day reduces the risk of dying from stroke. or heart attack due to hypertension, diabetes, obesity and cholesterol, risk factors for stroke or heart attack.
This is a powerful meta-analysis based on 17 studies involving 226,889 people, who were followed for an average of seven years to assess the health impact of different daily step counts. The researchers wanted to calculate the minimum point at which mortality takes a toll.
Above the threshold of 4,000, each increase of 1,000 steps per day is associated with a 15% reduction in the risk of dying from any cause, while an increase of 500 steps per day is associated with a 7% reduction in dying from cardiovascular diseases.
"Our study confirms that the more you walk, the better," said study director Maciej Banach, a professor of cardiology at the Medical University of Lodz, Poland. “We have observed that this applies to both men and women, regardless of age and regardless of whether you live in a temperate, subtropical or subpolar region of the world, or in a region with a mixture of climates,” says the cardiologist in The Guardian .
In the younger age groups, the greatest improvement in health was seen in individuals who took between 7,000 and 13,000 steps per day, while in those over 60 years of age it was between 6,000 and 10,000 steps.
The authors did not evaluate the effects on the health of the very walkers, those who exceed the average of 20,000 steps a day. The group located at the opposite end of the sedentary. In this regard, Banach considers that new studies are needed to investigate the benefits or harms of intense efforts, such as those carried out in marathon races and ironman challenges. And see what happens in different climates, ages and associated health problems.
Excessive physical exercise when you don't have the necessary conditions, they believe, could not only not have greater gains in terms of health but also cause problems. For this reason, they believe that further research should be carried out with samples of the magnitude and duration that they have used.
"The 4,000 steps should encourage very sedentary people to start walking," says Montserrat Romaguera, a sports family doctor, coordinator of physical activity and health at SemFYC, a society that brings together the 17 Spanish family and community medicine societies. . “One step is better than none,” she says.
The 4,000 steps can be taken between 20 minutes and half an hour. It is an average, it is not necessary to meet them every day so that if they do not occur throughout the week, they can be compensated at the weekend. It is preferable to walk lightly and continuously.
"But, in return, then you can't spend eight hours in a chair," explains Romaguera, author of the book My doctor sends me for a walk. “You have to get up and move every hour.”
These indications are for the population that does not have physical activity incorporated into their routine (a minimum of 150 minutes per week, with strength, balance and power exercises). "It must be taken into account that 30% of the population never does physical activity, a figure that increased with the pandemic and that has not recovered the situation prior to it." Sedentary lifestyle is greater in women than in men, in the elderly than in the young, in disadvantaged classes than in the rich. And it grows in children.
In his consultation at the Sabadell primary care center, 70% of adults are sedentary. A particularly affected group is that of the elderly, little educated in the culture of body care. Also a very vulnerable population that not only does not perform any physical activity but also eats worse and their leisure is linked to screens. There are also young women who do not exceed the threshold of 4,000 steps. Especially worrisome is that of young women of immigrant origin who are usually at home and have difficulty going out for a walk.
This will entail health problems in the future, greater medication and hospital use, with the cost for the individual and the corresponding social economic cost. “These are people who have a higher risk of having pathologies that will worsen their quality of life and longevity,” says the doctor. “We have more and more advanced drugs to treat specific conditions like cardiovascular disease, but it's so much better not to need to take them,” she says. She insists that lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise, can be very effective in reducing cardiovascular risk and prolonging life.
“Walking is a form of exercise that is available to most. No special equipment is needed other than proper footwear. And there is no need to pay for a gym.”
