1 DAILY STEPS
TARGET: 9 800 a day
Researchers from Australia and Denmark recently analysed data from wrist-activity monitors that were worn by almost 78 500 people, 24 hours a day for seven days between 2013 and 2015. Over the following six to eight years they tracked the health outcomes, logging how many participants developed heart disease, cancer or dementia, or died during that time. Their results, published in JAMA Neurology and JAMA Internal Medicine, showed that performing ‘just under the popular threshold of 10 000 steps per day’ was the sweet spot for long-term health.
When it came to developing dementia, there was a 25% risk reduction starting at about 3800 daily steps, but beyond that the more steps the better, with every 2000 additional daily steps also lowering the risk of heart disease, cancer and premature death by about 10%. At 9 800 steps a day there was a 50% reduced risk of dementia, and about that number was also optimal for reducing other health risks.
2 WALKING FAST
TARGET: 100 steps per minute
It’s not just the number of steps you take every day that has a bearing on health
