- READ MORE: Experts reveal If you TRULY require taking 10,000 steps each day
Achieving a minimum of 10,000 steps daily has often been regarded as the benchmark for physical activity.
Nevertheless, research indicates that concentrating on the duration of your exercise rather than the number of steps taken might be equally effective for weight loss , increased lifespan and a lower chance of developing heart diseases.
Scientists from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston examined four years of data covering approximately 15,000 women who were more than 62 years old.
Every participant utilized a fitness tracker for measuring their activity levels and completed annual health questionnaires each year.
The group discovered that individuals who took between 8,000 and 8,500 steps each day lowered their chance of developing heart disease by 40%, as opposed to those who only managed about 3,000 steps daily.
Furthermore, they discovered that the same level of risk reduction applied to individuals who exercised for 75 minutes daily, indicating that tracking steps might not be necessary.
This study is among multiple recent publications to debunk the 10,000-step rule , according to some experts, there isn't a single 'magical' figure when it comes to exercising.
Dr. Rikuta Hamaya, who led the research and works as a scientist at the Division of Preventative Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, stated: "For many people, particularly those who are younger, physical activity might include sports such as tennis or soccer, along with simple exercises like walking or running, all of which can often be monitored through step counts."
Nevertheless, for some individuals, it might involve activities like cycling or swimming, where tracking the length of workouts is more straightforward. This underscores the importance of having varied methods within physical activity recommendations to achieve one’s objectives.
'Everyone expresses movement uniquely, and almost every type of movement positively impacts our well-being.'
The group enrolled 14,399 women above the age of 62 who were deemed healthy, indicating that they lacked heart disease or cancer. On average, the participants' age was 72 years old.
From 2011 to 2015, every woman was instructed to keep a fitness tracker on her hip continuously, even when sleeping or bathing.
Every year, the researchers distributed surveys covering aspects such as health behaviors including smoking and alcohol consumption, along with measurements of height and weight, details about menopause status, and information regarding personal and familial medical backgrounds.
These were utilized to assess the participants' likelihood of developing heart disease and facing mortality.
The team continued following up with the women throughout 2022.
Participants averaged about 62 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each week and accumulated approximately 5,183 daily steps. As of 2022, nine percent of them had passed away, and four percent were diagnosed with heart disease.
The women were grouped into percentiles according to the number of minutes they spent exercising or the total number of steps they took.
The research revealed that individuals who exercised for at least 200 minutes per week or managed around 8,000 to 8,500 steps daily decreased their likelihood of developing heart disease and dying prematurely by as much as 40% when contrasted with people in the lowest activity group, which was defined as nine to twelve minutes of exercise or approximately 2,800 to 3,000 steps.
The research indicates that patients have the option to select either a step-based approach or a timed-goal strategy to reduce their likelihood of mortality or cardiovascular illness, according to the researchers.
These findings endorse incorporating both duration-focused and steps-oriented criteria into upcoming physical activity guidelines, providing people with the option to select and monitor their favored measure of activity.
Therefore, healthcare providers can assist women aged 60 or above in choosing between time-based or step-based objectives to track their physical activity levels, based on individual preferences.
The study had multiple constraints, primarily due to the majority of participants being white females from a higher economic background. Furthermore, since the research was observational, these results cannot be definitively established.
The research was published on Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine .
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