A new study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that the number of steps taken daily is more crucial for older women’s health than the frequency of walking. Even achieving 4000 steps just 1-2 days a week significantly lowered mortality risk. The findings suggest step volume, not the pattern of achieving it, is key for health benefits.
Walking is popular among older adults than young people, according to studies. It is one of the simplest forms of exercise, and also a great way to stay healthy. But one question that’s at the top of the mind for most people who rely on walking for fitness is – how many steps, and how often to walk.
A new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine looked at whether the number of steps or walking frequency matters more in older women to maintain better health. The findings of the study are striking.
Walking for health? What matters – steps or frequency?
The large prospective study examined whether walking a certain number of steps or the frequency of walking is crucial to maintaining health in older women.
While there is no doubt that walking is an excellent form of physical activity, what metrics should be used to improve effectiveness has always been questioned. A large body of evidence shows that lifelong physical activity is important for improving the healthspan, the researchers note. However, it is not entirely clear how much physical activity is required to get these health benefits as one ages. The 150 minutes of physical activity a week guidelines do not necessarily fit everyone. “It’s not entirely clear how much physical activity people should do as they age to reap appreciable health benefits, particularly in respect of step counts, which are yet to make it into physical activity guideline recommendations,” the researchers said.
To understand this, the researchers looked at the link between daily step counts of between 4000 and 7000 and death from all causes and from cardiovascular disease in older women. They wanted to see whether the total number of daily steps might drive any observed associations, rather than the frequency of achieving step count thresholds, with a view to informing future guidelines, in particular the US Physical Activity Guidelines, the next edition of which is planned for 2028.
The study had 13547 women participants, with an average age of 71 from the US. They were tracked for 7 consecutive days between 2011–2015 using accelerometers. The researchers followed these participants for about 11 years. They were free of cardiovascular disease or cancer at the start of the study. 1765 women (13%) died and 781 (5%) developed cardiovascular disease during the monitoring period, which ended in 2024.
The findings
The researchers found that the number of steps really matters more compared to the frequency. They found that getting at least 4000 steps/day on 1–2 days of the week was linked with a 26% lower risk of death from all causes and a 27% lower risk of a CVD death compared with not reaching this threshold on any day of the week.
Those who walked 4000 steps at least 3 days a week had 40% lower risk of death from any cause; however, the risk from cardiovascular death still remained 27%. Higher step counts – 5000 to 7000 on 3 or more days of the week led to a 32% lower risk of death from any cause and a 16% from CVD death.
Though these findings hint that step counts matter in terms of better health in older women, no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect, as it is an observational study. However, they suggest, “The present study suggests that frequency of meeting daily step thresholds is not critical (even 1–2 days/week of ≥4000 steps/day was related to lower mortality and CVD), and that step volume is more important than the frequency of meeting daily step thresholds in the older population.”
“An important translational implication of these findings is that since step volume is the important driver of the inverse associations, there is no ‘better’ or ‘best’ pattern to take steps; individuals can undertake [physical activity] in any preferred pattern (eg, ‘slow and steady’ vs ‘bunched patterns’) for lower mortality and CVD risk, at least among older women,” they added.
They conclude: “These findings provide additional evidence for considering including step metrics in the next [physical activity] guidelines, and that ‘bunching’ steps is a viable option for health.”
