Key Takeaways
- New research shows that you can reap health benefits from regular exercise, whether you count your steps or schedule your workouts for a specific amount of time.
- HHS recommends that adults get 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week.
- There are no official recommendations yet for how many steps you should take, but researchers say roughly 7,000 steps per day is a good benchmark.
A new study from researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) in Boston finds that both step count and time-based exercise goals are equally beneficial in improving health outcomes, extending lifespan, and reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Although the study was based on data from women with an average age of 62, researchers said the results likely apply to all adults.
The current U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) physical activity guidelines were last updated in 2018. This does not include recommendations for the number of steps you should take during exercise, only the recommended number of hours you should exercise per week. For adults, this involves 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week.
Updated guidance from HHS is not expected until 2028. Until then, researchers hoped to provide alternative exercise goals, especially for people who may feel intimidated by 2.5 to 5 hours of exercise a week.
“We recognized that existing physical activity guidelines primarily focus on activity duration and intensity but lack step-based recommendations,” said Rikuta Hamaya, MD, a researcher in the BWH Department of Preventive Medicine and lead author of the study. .
Importance of various indicators
When the 2018 HHS guidelines were published, most of the existing evidence for health benefits came from studies in which participants self-reported their physical activity. There was little information about the relationship between step count and health. However, in recent years, wearable devices such as smartwatches and smartphones that can track steps have become popular and reliable.
“As more people use smartwatches to measure their steps and overall health, we find it important to see how step-based measures compare to time-based goals when it comes to health outcomes,” Hamaya said. said:
Hamaya and his team looked at data from 14,399 women who participated in the Women's Health Study, a long-term study of nurses that had ended recruitment but still included annual questionnaires completed by original participants. The researchers used data from women who did not have cardiovascular disease or cancer and who used a wearable device for seven consecutive days between 2011 and 2015 as part of the study to record their physical activity levels. Women's Health Study researchers followed the women regularly until the end of 2022.
Brigham and Women's Hospital researchers found that participants using the wearable device engaged in a median of 62 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity per week and walked an average of 5,183 steps per day. During an average follow-up period of 9 years, approximately 9% of participants died and 4% developed cardiovascular disease.
The study found that physical activity levels above the median, whether measured by steps or hours of moderate to vigorous activity, were associated with a significantly reduced risk of death or cardiovascular disease. The study also found that the most active women had a 30 to 40 percent reduced risk compared to the least active women.
So how many steps are required?
This study does not provide advice on whether to choose between counting steps or timing for exercise. Hamaya said each has its pros and cons. For example, step count may not explain differences in fitness levels. For example, if both a 20-year-old and an 80-year-old walk for 30 minutes at a moderate intensity, their step count may differ significantly. However, Hamaya adds, “Step count is easier to measure and less open to interpretation than exercise intensity.” And steps “capture not just movement, but also sporadic movements of daily life, and these kinds of activities of daily living are likely to be performed by older people.”
Some exercises are easy to track with walking, such as tennis, walking, soccer, and jogging, but other activities, such as biking and swimming, cannot be tracked with walking.
“This is why it is important that physical activity guidelines provide a variety of ways to achieve goals,” Hamaya said.
Although the study did not provide step or timing guidelines, Hamaya said she recommends following current HHS guidelines for timed exercise. That means 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, such as brisk walking or brisk dancing, each week. (The guidelines also state that adults also need muscle-strengthening activities, such as weight lifting or push-ups, at least two days each week.)
There are no federal guidelines yet on how many steps are needed, but Dr. Hamaya says previous research suggests that as little as 7,000 steps a day may be sufficient for older adults.
In fact, a 2019 study by I-Min Lee, MBBS, ScD, an epidemiologist in BWH's Department of Preventive Medicine and another researcher on the recent Brigham and Women study, found that the oft-cited 10,0000 steps per day is more than what many adults need. There's more to it. Her research found that women in their 70s who walked 4,400 steps a day had a roughly 40 percent reduced risk of premature death compared to women who walked 2,700 steps or less a day.
The risk of premature death continued to decrease for women who walked more than 5,000 steps per day, but the benefit plateaued at about 7,500 steps per day.
“Our findings further confirm the importance of adding stage-based goals to accommodate the flexibility of goals to suit individuals with different preferences, abilities, and lifestyles,” Lee said.
In the future, Hamaya hopes to conduct randomized controlled trials that look at people actually exercising using either time or steps to better understand the relationship between time-based and step-based exercise metrics and health.
What this means to you
Incorporating step-based goals into your exercise routine may be as beneficial as traditional time-based goals for improving your health and reducing cardiovascular risk. To reap significant health benefits, aim for 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week or about 7,000 steps each day.