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Forget 10,000 steps – target 500 extra a day in your 70s instead, study finds

Every additional 500 steps lowered the risk of heart issues by 14 per cent - TETRA IMAGES
Every additional 500 steps lowered the risk of heart issues by 14 per cent - TETRA IMAGES

If achieving 10,000 steps a day seems daunting, do not despair.

Scientists have found that even adding just an additional 500 steps each day brings significant health benefits in later life, cutting the risk of a stroke and heart problems.

Compared to adults who took fewer than 2,000 steps-per-day, people who took about 4,500 were 77 per cent less likely to experience a cardiovascular event in the 3.5 year follow up.

It means that every additional 500 steps lowered the risk of heart issues by 14 per cent.

“We were surprised to find that every additional quarter of a mile, or 500 steps, of walking had such a strong benefit to heart health,” said Dr Erin Dooley, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health.

“While we do not want to diminish the importance of higher intensity physical activity, encouraging small increases in the number of daily steps also has significant cardiovascular benefits.

“If you are an older adult over the age of 70, start with trying to get 500 more steps per day.”

Many health organisations recommend hitting 10,000 steps a day, although there is little evidence for the target, which is believed to have arisen from a Japanese marketing campaign in the 1960s.

In the run-up to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the company Yamasa sought to capitalise on the sudden interest in fitness, so designed the world’s first wearable step-counter which they called the Manpo-kei, or “10,000-step meter”.

The company appears to have chosen the figure at random, as a fun goal, but it has stuck ever since.

More up-to-date research has found that health effects can plateau after 4,500 steps, while others suggest between 6,000 and 8,000 is the sweet spot for fighting chronic illness like heart problems and cancer.

Speed will also play a role, with some studies suggesting that shorter bouts of brisk walking are more effective for health than higher step counts at a moderate pace.

The new study analysed health data for 452 people who used an accelerometer device similar to a pedometer, worn at the hip, to measure their daily step count.

Over the 3.5-year follow-up period, 7.5 per cent of the participants experienced a cardiovascular disease event, such as coronary heart disease, stroke or heart failure.

On breaking down the figure, researchers found that just 3.5 per cent of participants who walked about 4,500 a day had a cardiovascular event compared to 12 per cent of those who walked fewer than 2,000 steps per day.

Experts said more work needed to be done to find out if meeting a higher daily step count prevents or delays cardiovascular disease, or if lower step counts may be an indicator of underlying disease.

“Steps are an easy way to measure physical activity, and more daily steps were associated with a lower risk of having a cardiovascular disease-related event in older adults,” added Dr Dooley, the lead author of the study.

“However, most studies have focused on early-to-midlife adults with daily goals of 10,000 or more steps, which may not be attainable for older individuals.”

The research was presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions in Boston.