you’ve probably heard of it Adults should aim for 10,000 steps daily. While this one-size-fits-all approach does not take into account the diversity of human lifestyles and bodies, it does provide a clear message.
An international team of researchers has found that even the most sedentary of us can avoid the negative effects of sitting by incorporating more steps into our daily routines.
As sedentary lifestyles become increasingly common, we I know they are linked They are more likely to die from cardiovascular disease (CVD), increase their risk of cancer and diabetes, and shorten their lifespans.and those risks is lower for people with Increases number of steps and fast pedestrians.
But until now, it was unclear whether sedentary people’s daily step count could offset these alarming health risks.
The more steps people in the new study took, no matter how sedentary they were, the lower their risk of CVD and early death. So while those of us with desk jobs aren’t completely doomed, the researchers stress that it’s still important to try to reduce sedentary time overall.
“This is definitely not a get-out-of-jail-free card for people who spend a lot of time sitting.” To tell Matthew Ahmadi, a population health scientist at the University of Sydney in Australia, said:
“But this is an important reminder that every movement counts and that people can and should offset the health effects of unavoidable sedentary time by increasing the number of steps they take each day. Contains a public health message.”
Ahmadi and colleagues analyzed data from 72,174 volunteers who contributed to the effort. UK Biobanka large-scale longitudinal dataset established in 2006 that continues to track participants’ health status for at least 30 years.
The study included an average of 6.9 years of general health data for each participant. The participant wore an accelerometer on her wrist for seven days to estimate her physical activity level, including the number of steps she takes and time spent sitting.
The median amount of time spent sedentary is 10.6 hours per day; those who spend more time than that are considered to have a high amount of sedentary time, and those who spend less time than that are considered to have a high sedentary time. was considered short.
Because this study did not include participants whose first two years of data may have been affected by poor health, the findings may be more likely to apply to people who were generally healthy for at least the first two years of data. Applies only to It is unclear whether the data included participants with disabilities that affect step count.
The researchers found that 9,000 to 10,000 steps per day is the best way to combat a sedentary lifestyle, lowering the risk of developing CVD by 21 percent and reducing the risk of death by 39 percent.
Regardless of how long participants sit, researchers discovered 50% of the benefits occur when you walk about 4,000 to 4,500 steps each day.
“Steps above a baseline of 2,200 steps per day, both short and long sedentary periods, were associated with lower mortality and risk of developing CVD,” Ahmadi and colleagues wrote. conclude.
“Increasing step count from 9,000 to 10,000 steps per day optimally reduced mortality and risk of developing CVD in sedentary participants.”
This study British Journal of Sports Medicine.
