do you need the proverbial 10 000 steps per day some people say all you need is 5 000 steps what
do clinical trials tell us about this i'm going to summarize the major health effects of daily
walking and how many steps you need in one day to maximize those effects let's dive right in
hey everyone my name is dr jeff peng physical activity is critical to living a healthy life it
improves our heart and lung function it lowers our cholesterol and blood sugar it increases
metabolism and helps us lose weight it improves our sleep and our mental health it helps us
learn and concentrate daily step counts are an easy and indirect measure of physical activity
the american heart association recommends 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise
or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity exercise per week but what does that even mean can we try to
simplify this how many steps per day does that equal let's look at the evidence i'm going to say
this up front and this doesn't surprise anyone but the more steps you take in a day the longer
you're going to live but what is the minimum number of steps to get that mortality benefit
take a look at this study they looked at almost 17 000 women and analyzed whether their step
count was associated with all-cause mortality they found that women who achieved 4 400 steps per day
had significantly lower mortality rates compared to those who got 2 700 steps per day
every additional 1000 steps lowered mortality until 7 500 steps per day after that any further
mortality benefit leveled off here's another study researchers concluded there is a direct
relationship between steps and mortality those who walked less than 4 000 steps per day had the
highest mortality this study also found that every additional 1 000 steps lowered mortality but they
found the effects lasted up to 12 000 steps per day after that the benefits started to flatten
out well what about how fast we walk does that matter both of these studies used accelerometers
to see if walking faster provided any additional benefit and what they found was that there is no
association between walking intensity or how fast you walk and mortality they both concluded if you
get the steps in you will get that mortality benefit so if walking helps us live longer
then it also makes sense that daily walking can provide benefits to our cardiovascular system
arteries are the blood vessels that carry blood away from our heart to the rest of our body having
stiff arteries is a predictor for cardiovascular disease such as heart attacks and strokes this
study looked into whether the amount of steps per day correlated with arterial stiffness researchers
found that there was a significant difference between artery stiffness and those who had less
than 5000 steps per day compared with those who had more than 7 500 steps per day they concluded
the more steps you get in a day the less stiff your arteries and the less stiff your arteries
the less risk you have of cardiovascular disease what about cognition how does daily walking
affect our memory and our executive function these researchers assess the relationship between step
count and cognitive performance as measured by two validated neuropsychological battery tests
they found positive correlations between more step counts and better attention executive function
language and memory now unfortunately this study did not publish the number of steps per day that
their participants took but what they did do was report a range of steps and they reported
their participants walked anywhere between 1 000 and 20 000 steps per day what they concluded was
more steps in a day was associated with improved cognitive function what about our immune function
how does daily walking affect that pneumonia is a serious lung infection that can be caused by
both bacteria and viruses it is the most common cause of hospital emissions in adults in the
united states this is of course before the covid19 pandemic and now it's arguably even more important
this study out of japan examined whether walking one hour a day improved pneumonia related outcomes
in adults over 65 years old they found that walking one hour a day which for most people
comes out to around 7 000 steps significantly reduced the chance of dying from pneumonia
among adults older than 65 and what about our mental health how does daily walking affect that
after all mental health is physical health you can't have one without the other these researchers
found that participants who joined a 100 day 10 000 step program had improved signs of depression
anxiety and stress now it's important to point out that not all participants in this study
reached their goal of 10 000 steps per day in their analysis researchers broke down the two
groups to those with less than 10 000 steps and those with more than 10 000 steps per day what
they found was that both groups regardless if they hit 10 000 steps or not had significant
improvements in their mental health with that said the people that did hit 10 000 steps per day
had better improvements in stress and anxiety they also rated their well-being as generally better
so the question becomes should you get a device that can help you track your steps
and the answer is yes now fortunately you already have one it's your smartphone your smartphone can
help you track daily steps this systematic review examined whether using a pedometer or a step
tracker increased physical activity compared to non-users they found that subjects randomized
to the pedometer group increased their steps by about 2 500 steps per day compared to non-users
the pedometer group also had significant decreases in their weight and their blood pressure when
compared to non-users okay so now let's summarize all of these studies what should our daily step
goal be number one we should probably get a step tracker and you can use your smartphone for this
or any other type of wearable device and you should aim for at least 7500 steps per day this
will maximize benefits for all cause mortality cardiovascular risk improving blood pressure
improving weight improving mental health and improving cognitive ability and performance thanks
for watching if you enjoyed this video please give it a like and share with others you can find me on
social media i'm on twitter @jeffreypengmd and i write on my blog at jeffreypengmd.com