10,000 Steps vs. Power Walking: Are they Equally Beneficial?

• A large new study investigates the health effects of walking 10,000 steps a day or less.

• The researchers found that the risk of premature death decreases with every 2,000 steps people take.

• They also found a correlation between the number of daily steps and a reduced risk of developing dementia, heart disease, and cancer.

• Power-walking also adds additional benefits and can make fewer steps count significantly more.

For maintaining one’s health, experts typically recommend walking 10,000 steps each day. For some, daily schedules and other factors make achieving this goal difficult. A new, large observational study finds that there are also health benefits to taking fewer steps, and that pace also affects walking’s impact on well-being.

“10,000 daily steps is a popular target that has been around for several decades,” Prof. Emmanuel Stamatakis, study senior author and professor at the University of Sydney, told Medical News Today. “However, there has been very little empirical evidence to support its specific health benefits until now.”

Among the study’s findings are that for every 2,000 steps taken, a person lowers their risk of all-cause death by 8% to 11%. - Read entire article by Robby Berman, MedicalNewsToday