Exact number of steps you need to take every day to slash risk of dying from heart disease

The general consensus is that walking 10,000 steps every day is best for our health. And with this, various step counting apps and watches have become very popular over the years.

But a study has suggested that a significantly lower number of daily steps could actually reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. The meta-analysis, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology in 2023, examined 17 previous studies involving more than 200,000 participants.

It discovered that taking as few as 2,337 steps a day began to decrease the risk of dying from heart and circulatory diseases. Moreover, at least 3,867 steps reduced the risk of death from any cause.

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The researchers also found that every additional 1,000 steps a day were associated with a 15 percent reduction in the risk of death. For those aged 60 and above, the most significant health improvements were seen in individuals taking between 6,000 and 10,000 steps, after which the benefits diminished.

For younger people, the optimal range was between 7,000 and 13,000 steps. The study's authors made it clear that more steps equate to better outcomes, saying: "This meta-analysis demonstrates a significant inverse association between daily step count and all-cause mortality and cardiovascular (CV) mortality with more the better over the cut-off point of 3,867 steps/day for all-cause mortality and only 2,337 steps for CV mortality."

Evidencing further benefits of walking, research disclosed in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal in 2022 highlighted a lower risk for people who walked "up to" 10,000 steps daily. However, they noted the pace could also be crucial, stating: "The findings of this population-based prospective cohort study of 78,500 individuals suggest that up to 10,000 steps per day may be associated with a lower risk of mortality and cancer and cardiovascular disease incidence.

"Steps performed at a higher cadence may be associated with additional risk reduction, particularly for incident disease."

Experts at the British Heart Foundation (BHF) added that the concept of walking 10,000 steps a day comes from a decades-old advertising campaign. The BHF’s own Heart Matters magazine revealed: "The idea of 10,000 steps a day traces back to a marketing campaign launched by a step counter company during the 1964 Olympics in Japan. This number was picked because the Japanese character for 10,000 (万) looks like a person walking."

"Despite its marketing origins, the idea caught on and many scientific studies have looked at the health benefits of 10,000 steps a day. Research has linked it to a reduced risk of developing dementia, cancer and heart and circulatory diseases, as well as having mental health benefits."

Depending on your stature, 10,000 steps equates to nearly five miles or eight kilometres, which typically takes individuals between one and two hours to walk. This activity will burn between 300 to 800 calories, contingent on your weight and height.