Excercise

Nutritional Pearls: Just 7000 Steps

  • The Answer: I will still recommend an average of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week rather than simply shooting for 7000 steps per day. I see this as more evidence that exercise is great for you. Find something you like, whether it's walking, cycling, or organized sports like tennis or flag football, then do it regularly.

     

    The Research

    Recently I have reported on a number of studies regarding exercise and its benefits. These have ranged from bicycling for diabetics to high blood pressure to the idea that exercise might be more effective than taking metformin on the risk of developing diabetes.

    While the current recommendations are for you to get at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity exercise, a team of researchers from multiple universities, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sought to quantify exercise recommendations in the most basic of ways: how many steps per day would reduce the risk of death from all causes?1

    The authors' data analysis utilized data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, which recruited both Black and White participants who were between the ages of 38 and 50 years in 1985 and 1986. In the 20th year of the study, a portion of the remaining participants­ (2332 people) consented to wearing an accelerometer for a minimum of 3 consecutive days with an average of 10 hours per day.

    Through August 2018, the researchers contacted participants personally twice per year and checked national death records once every 5 years. The average daily number of steps taken by those who died over the course of the study was compared with those who did not.

    Using data from multiple in-person interviews with the participants over the years, the authors were able to consider not only race and gender, but also smoking status, diet, glucose and cholesterol scores, blood pressure readings, and whether the participants had been diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease, among other health issues.

    The authors grouped the participants into 3 levels of daily steps: an average of about 5800 steps/day, an average of 8500 steps/day, and an average of nearly 12,000 steps per day.

    The article states, "compared with participants in the low step group and after accounting for all [variables], there was significantly lower risk of mortality for participants in moderate... and high... step groups." In fact, the researchers found that those who took at least 7000 steps per day were 50 to 70% less likely to die of any cause than those who took fewer than 7000 steps per day, with the findings holding across racial and gender groups.

    What’s the Take Home?

    Researchers keep trying to quantify a minimum amount of exercise for maximum health benefit. How much is just enough? I will still recommend an average of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week rather than simply shooting for 7000 steps per day. I see this as more evidence that exercise is great for you. Find something you like, whether it's walking, cycling, or organized sports like tennis or flag football, then do it regularly.

    References:

    1. Paluch AE, Gabriel KP, Fulton JE, et al. Steps per day and all-cause mortality in middle-aged adults in the coronary artery risk development in young adults study. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(9):e2124516. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.24516