Health & Wellness

How Many Steps Should I Take Each Day to Experience Optimal Health Benefits?

Find the answer here

Since taking an early retirement and moving to the tropics of Trinidad and Tobago, hubby and I have tended to become a bit lazy.

Not proud of this at all. Perhaps I can blame all the sunshine and humidity?

No, not a good excuse at all now, is it?

Working as a freelance writer doesn’t help either though. Spending most of my days sitting in front of the computer reading, researching and writing is optimal from a work perspective, and helps to keep my brain from turning to mush, but all that time just sitting does take a physical toll on the body.

Ashamed to admit, my bum is taking up more of the seat these days and my thighs are starting to look like they could be formed into bread loaves and baked.

Not good.

Hubby tends to tinker around the house much more than me, so he’s fairing somewhat better. In the past, I’ve always had an active job so I never had to worry about such things too much. But now, I know I need to come up with a solution.

I’ve committed to taking more frequent breaks to get up and walk around the house and yard, and in the early mornings when it’s cool outside, hubby and I have been taking long walks around the neighborhood.

A question does arise, though, about how much to walk and at what physical intensity. Should we be power walking? I’m a child of the 80s, the era of Jane Fonda workouts and gym rats. In my mind is the notion that exercise has to be strenuously difficult and rather hateful.

Luckily, after doing a little research, I found that this may in fact not be the case.

What the research suggests

I was pleasantly surprised to discover this Women’s Health Study conducted by Dr. I-Min Lee, et al., and published in JAMA. The study began with the assumption that older women, like myself, at age 49, would need to walk upwards of 10,000 steps per day for optimal health benefits.

What the study showed, though, was that peak optimal benefit started at 4,400 steps and increased thereafter before leveling off at 7,500 steps. Furthermore, it did not seem to matter at which intensity the steps were taken.

This is good news to me, as hubby and I like to take our time with our walks. I spent my younger years hustling in the rat race and these days I much prefer to take things a bit slower. Same with hubby.

Plus, we like to check out people’s yards and landscaping choices and get ideas for our own yard.

While consulting research for this article, I did see that Robert Roy Britt had previously mentioned this study in his article on the benefits of walking. An interesting read as well:

Additionally, he writes about how brisk walking may in fact be linked to longer life expectancy.

So, perhaps picking up the pace a little wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

Last year though, a meta-analysis that looked at 15 different studies and compiled the data was published in The Lancet by Dr. Amanda E. Paluch, et al. The study showed the optimal number of daily steps for adults over the age of 60 was approximately 6000 to 8000 per day while adults younger than 60 the optimal number of steps was approximately 8000 to 10,000 per day.

With regards to intensity, they found “inconsistent evidence that step intensity had an association with mortality beyond total volume of steps.”

Bottom line, moving is the key. According to this page from The Mayo Clinic on the subject of walking, “some activity is better than no activity.”

They recommend 150 minutes of moderate activity per week divided up any way you choose. Dividing by seven, this works out to be about 21 minutes per day.

Sounds like a winning blackjack hand to me.

The Mayo Clinic further advises that when setting a walking goal, it’s a good idea to work your way up to that goal if, like me, you’ve gone through a period of inactivity. For my part, I’ve been trying to move more and more every day.

Not that I want to be attached to my phone or anything, but since I have my steps and health trackers on my phone, I’ve been getting into the habit of keeping it in my pocket so that my steps get tracked accordingly. It’s amazing how quickly they can add up throughout the day.

Also, check out this article by Jessica Stillman, who cites research that suggests even as little as 15 minutes of walking per day will likely add years to your life.

The overall benefits of increased activity are many, and include reducing the risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer and depression. There are also plenty of benefits with regards to how our brains function, according to this CDC page on the “Benefits of Physical Activity”:

“Benefits include improved thinking or cognition for children 6 to 13 years of age and reduced short-term feelings of anxiety for adults. Regular physical activity can help keep your thinking, learning, and judgment skills sharp as you age. It can also reduce your risk of depression and anxiety and help you sleep better.”

Sounds great to me.

This has given me proper motivation to keep moving progressively more and more each day. What about you?

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