Walking 10,000 steps daily can counteract risk of death, cardiovascular issues, study finds

Highly sedentary people who increase their step count may counteract the risk of death and cardiovascular disease, a new study has found.

Research released today from the University of Sydney found a daily step count of 9000 to 10,000 could counteract the negative health consequences of living a largely sedentary lifestyle.

The study of over 72,000 people found every additional step up to around 10,000 steps a day was linked to reduced risk of death by 39 per cent and cardiovascular disease by 21 per cent.

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Lead researcher Dr Matthew Ahmadi said this was the first study to measure whether daily steps could offset the health risks of high sedentary behaviour.

"This is by no means a get-out-of-jail card for people who are sedentary for excessive periods of time," Ahmadi said.

"However, it does hold an important public health message that all movement matters and that people can and should try to offset the health consequences of unavoidable sedentary time by upping their daily step count."

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Researchers used data on 72,174 individuals who had worn an accelerometer device on their wrist for seven days to measure their physical activity.

The accelerometer data were used to estimate daily step count and time spent being sedentary.

‌The research team then followed the health trajectory of the participants by linking hospitalisation data and death records.

After seven years, 1633 deaths and 6190 cardiovascular disease events occurred among the participants.

Researchers found the optimal number of steps per day to counteract high sedentary time was between 9000 to 10,000 steps per day.

Senior author Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis said in both cases 50 per cent of the benefit was achieved at between 4000 and 4500 steps per day.

"Step count is a tangible and easily understood measure of physical activity that can help people in the community, and indeed health professionals, accurately monitor physical activity," Stamatakis said.