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Exercise recommendations typically emphasize the duration of physical activity, with guidelines such as those from the World Health Organization advising at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week. However, a new analysis of data from the Women’s Health Study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, suggests that step count could also serve as a useful and perhaps more accessible metric for many people.
“It’s not so easy to keep track of how long you’ve been moderately active in a given week,” wrote Cary P. Gross, MD, from Yale University in an accompanying editorial. “Counting steps might be easier for some people, especially since most carry a phone that can serve as a pedometer.”
The 10,000-Step Recommendation
Despite the popularity of the 10,000 steps per day guideline, this target originated from a marketing campaign in Japan during the 1960s rather than scientific evidence. Historically, there has been a lack of robust data linking step counts with mortality and cardiovascular diseases, which is why this new study’s findings are particularly significant.
Findings From the Women’s Health Study
Rikuta Hamaya, MD, and his team from Brigham and Women’s Hospital analyzed data from the Women’s Health Study, a clinical trial conducted in the U.S. from 1992 to 2004. This study initially investigated the use of aspirin and vitamin E for cancer and cardiovascular disease prevention. For this analysis, 14,399 women aged 62 and older who had not developed cardiovascular disease or cancer were included. Between 2011 and 2015, these women measured their physical activity and step count over seven days using an accelerometer and were followed for an average of nine years.
The analysis revealed that both the duration of moderate physical activity and daily step count were associated with lower mortality and reduced risk for cardiovascular diseases. Participants who engaged in more than 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week had a 32% lower mortality risk compared to the least active group. Similarly, those who took more than 7,000 steps per day had a 42% lower mortality risk compared to those with the lowest step counts.
Women in the top three quartiles of physical activity lived, on average, 2.22 months longer when measured by activity time and 2.36 months longer when measured by step count compared to those in the lowest quartile. These survival advantages were found to be independent of body mass index.
Multiple Ways to Reach Exercise Goals
Hamaya emphasized the importance of offering diverse methods to meet exercise recommendations: “For some, especially younger people, physical activity includes sports like tennis, soccer, walking, or jogging. All these can be tracked well with step counting. But for others, activity means cycling or swimming, which is easier to measure by duration.”
Dr. Gross underscored the potential of these findings to inform both individual patient counseling and formal guidelines using step counts. However, he also stressed the need for further research. “The results need to be replicated in various populations, not just among men and younger people but also among ethnic minorities and lower-income populations, who often have less time and space for structured physical activity.”
As the scientific community continues to explore and validate the benefits of step counts as a metric for physical activity, individuals might find it easier to integrate walking into their daily routines, leveraging their smartphones and wearable devices to track their progress towards healthier lives.
