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A 22K-Person Study Of Wearable Data Showed You Should Get This Many Steps To Support Peak Brain Health
If you've ever felt discouraged by the idea that you need over 10,000 steps a day to make a real difference in your health, this new research will come as a relief. A year's worth of fitness tracker data from more than 22,000 adults suggests a lower, more realistic number of steps may be enough to protect your brain, specifically from dementia, Parkinson's disease, and stroke.
The findings were presented in San Diego, CA, at the Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association, and they add fresh evidence to the growing body of research linking how much we move to how well our brains age.
About the study
Researchers drew on a full year of Fitbit data from the NIH All of Us Research Program, a database designed to include people who are often left out of medical research. They followed 22,517 adults ages 40 and older, grouping them by their average daily steps into three categories:
- Low activity: about 4,800 steps a day
- Moderate activity: about 8,300 steps a day
- High activity: about 12,600 steps a day
Over roughly five years of follow-up, the researchers tracked new diagnoses of dementia, Parkinson's disease, stroke, and transient ischemic attack (sometimes called a mini-stroke) using participants' electronic health records. Rather than relying on a single fitness tracker snapshot or a one-time questionnaire, this study looked at sustained activity patterns over an entire year, which the researchers say offers a more accurate picture of risk than a single reading.
How step counts translated to brain health
The least-active group developed dementia, Parkinson's, or stroke at a roughly 80% higher rate than the most active group. There were 3.8 neurological diagnoses per 1,000 people in the low-activity group, compared with 2.7 in the moderate-activity group, and 2.1 in the high-activity group.
The low-activity group also had a higher average BMI, and higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, and depression.
Depression was actually the strongest predictor of later neurological disease in the study, though the researchers noted that depression can also be an early symptom of dementia and Parkinson's, not just a contributing cause.
Putting this into practice
So what does this mean for your daily walks? According to the study's authors, you don't need to chase 12,000 steps to see a benefit. People averaging around 8,000 steps a day had meaningfully lower rates of neurological disease than the least-active group, which researchers called "a realistic target" that aligns with federal guidance of about 150 minutes of moderate activity per week.
The researchers also emphasized that a low step count over the past year isn't a diagnosis or a verdict on your brain health. It's more like a nudge to start bumping your steps up, and pay extra attention to areas of your help that a lower step count can affect.
"Low activity and conditions such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and depression are a package deal," said Meet Popatbhai Kachhadia, MD, lead author of the study and a neurology resident at Florida Atlantic University. "Data from fitness trackers could help identify those who need earlier attention to their weight, blood sugar, blood pressure or mental health," all of which are health concerns that can be addressed with the help of your doctor.
The takeaway
If 8,000 steps feels far off from where you are now, there's no need to panic. There are lots of easy ways to bump up your step count. For example, try parking farther away from your final destination, taking walking meetings, pacing during phone calls, or adding a 10-minute walk after meals.
Consistency matters more than intensity here, so a daily habit you can stick with will likely serve your brain better than an occasional long walk. And your brain won't be the only part of your body benefitting. Walking can also help fight frailty, lower your blood sugar, and generally promote longevity.
