10000 steps a day can significantly reduce the risk of disease and death

Walking 10000 steps a day is the "best point" to reduce the risk of disease and death. However, according to research published recently in Journal of the American Medical Association - Internal Medicine and Journal of the American Medical Association - Neurology, how fast you walk is also important.Researchers in Australia and Denmark monitored 78500 adults using wearable trackers. It was found that walking 10000 steps a day could reduce the risk of dementia, heart disease, cancer and even death. However, the benefits of faster steps far outweigh the number of steps.Matthew Ahmadi, a researcher at the School of Medicine and Health of Sydney University, said: "In order to maintain health, the ideal goal is not only to walk 10000 steps a day, but also to walk faster."The study used data from the British Biological Bank to link the steps of 78500 British adults aged 40 to 79 years with their health seven years later. This is the largest study to objectively track the relationship between steps and health.Participants wore a wrist speedometer and measured their physical activity for 7 days (at least 3 days, including weekends and sleep time). This information is linked to participants' health records through multiple data sources, including hospitalization information, primary care and cancer records, and death registration.The researchers pointed out that the study was observational, meaning that no direct causal relationship could be obtained. However, they noted that there was a strong and consistent association among the experimental population.Research shows that every 2000 steps, the risk of premature death will gradually reduce by 8% to 11%, and the "best point" is 10000 steps a day. There is a similar association between cardiovascular disease and cancer incidence. The more steps you take every day, the lower the risk of all-cause dementia. 9800 steps is the best "dose" to reduce the risk of dementia by 50%. Compared with the number of steps per day, higher step frequency intensity is beneficial to the above results."Our research also shows that for people who are not very active, even walking 3800 steps a day can reduce the risk of dementia by 25%." Borja del Pozo Cruz, co-author of the paper and associate professor of the University of Southern Denmark, said.Emmanuel Stamatakis, a professor at the University of Sydney, said: "Due to the increasing popularity of fitness trackers and applications, steps are easy to obtain and widely used by the public to track activity levels, but people rarely think about the significance of these data.""These findings could inform the first formal walking based physical activity guidelines and help develop public health programs aimed at effectively preventing chronic diseases." Stamatakis said.The research team said that more research on the long-term use of trackers will more clearly reveal the health benefits of specific levels and intensity of daily walking.