If You Want To Walk For Longevity, Focus On This Instead
If you're halfway through a walk and realize you're moving at more of a stroll than a power walk, you may wonder whether those slower steps still count.
Much walking advice focuses on pace, but everyday movement doesn't have to feel like exercise to be valuable.
In a recent study published in JAMA1, researchers followed nearly 5,000 adults for about a decade to look at whether daily step count and walking intensity were linked to longevity.
The results may make getting more movement into your day feel a little more approachable.
About the study
Researchers analyzed data from 4,840 U.S. adults ages 40 and older who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
Between 2003 and 2006, participants wore a step-tracking device on their hip during waking hours for up to seven days. It recorded their total daily steps and how quickly they moved during their most active periods.
Participants weren't assigned to different walking groups. Instead, researchers placed them into step-count ranges based on how much they naturally walked, from fewer than 4,000 steps a day to 12,000 or more.
Researchers then followed them for an average of 10.1 years and recorded deaths during that time.
More daily steps were linked to lower death risk
Participants averaged 9,124 steps a day, and 1,165 deaths occurred during follow-up.
For the analysis, researchers used 4,000 daily steps as the reference point. Compared with that level, taking 8,000 steps a day was associated with roughly half the risk of dying from any cause. At 12,000 steps, the risk was lower still.
More steps were also associated with a lower risk of dying from heart disease and cancer. The pattern held across men and women, younger and older adults, and several racial and ethnic groups.
Walking speed initially appeared to matter, too. People who moved faster during their most active periods had a lower risk of death, but that association disappeared after researchers accounted for total daily steps.
The amount of movement people accumulated appeared to matter more than how quickly they walked.
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Your steps don't have to come from a workout
A step still counts whether it comes from a dedicated walk, several shorter walks, walking the dog, running errands, or pacing during a phone call.
In this study, people who accumulated more daily movement tended to have better long-term outcomes, regardless of walking speed.
That doesn't make pace irrelevant. Brisk walking can raise your heart rate and support cardiovascular health, but you don't need to turn every walk into a speed session to get more movement into your day.
The study also doesn't suggest that everyone needs to reach 12,000 steps. Higher step counts were generally associated with lower risk, so adding movement from your current baseline may be more useful than chasing a specific number.
How to get more movement into your day
You can build your step count into routines you already have:
- Break up sitting: Get up for a few minutes every hour to counter a day of sitting, walk during phone calls, or take the longer route when possible.
- Add movement to daily errands: Park farther away, take a post-meal walk, walk to a nearby coffee shop, or add an extra loop when walking the dog.
One caveat is that this was an observational study, so it can show an association but can't prove that taking more steps directly caused people to live longer.
People who walk more may also have other health habits that influence longevity, and researchers can't account for every possible factor.
The takeaway
Walking for longevity doesn't have to mean walking fast.
This research suggests that simply accumulating more steps throughout the day may be more closely linked to a longer life than walking speed, making everyday movement worth building into your routine.