Forget 10,000 steps a day! One long walk is better for heart health

Hitting 10,000 steps a day is a popular fitness goal for millions.

But a less time-consuming alternative may be more effective when it comes to losing weight, if new research is to be believed.

Building steady 15 minute walks into your day could help slash the risk of heart disease and even an early death, a study has suggested.  

Australian and Spanish researchers, who tracked the movements of more than 33,000 adults, discovered that those who walked for more than 15 minutes at a time cut risk of early death by up to 85 per cent, compared to those who took five minute bursts.

The results showed that ‘modest changes to step patterns without dramatic increases in step number’ could yield significant heart health benefits, the researchers claimed.

Their findings, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, could also help doctors to encourage patients that are least active to increase their total step count or at least take most of their daily steps in a row, they said.

Dr Matthew Ahmadi, an expert in cardiovascular disease prevention at the University of Sydney and study co-author, said: ‘There is a perception that health professionals have recommended walking 10,000 steps a day is the goal, but this isn’t necessary. 

‘Simply adding one or two longer walks per day, each lasting at least 10-15 minutes at a comfortable but steady pace, may have significant benefits – especially for people who don’t walk much.’

Dr Borja del Pozo, an expert in lifestyle epidemiology at the European University in Madrid and study co-author, added: ‘Our research shows that simple changes can make all the difference to your health. 

‘If you walk a little, set aside some time to walk more often and in longer sessions. Such small changes can have a big impact.’

In the study, 33,560 adults wore a research wristband for a week which measured not only how many steps they took but also how their step count was accumulated.

They were then grouped into four groups and their health was tracked for an average of eight years.  

The first group accumulated most of their daily steps in bursts of under five minutes.

The second, accumulated the majority between five and 10 minutes, while the third group achieved this in 10 to 15 minute bouts. 

The fourth group, meanwhile, tracked most of their steps in bouts of more than 15 minutes. 

The scientists discovered the risk of death decreased as bout length rose.

Among those who took bouts shorter than five minutes, their risk of death stood at 4.36 per cent. 

This dropped to 1.83, 0.84 and 0.8 per cent among groups two, three and four respectively. 

Risk of developing cardiovascular disease, meanwhile, stood at 13.03 per cent among group one.

This fell to 11.09, 7.71 and 4.39 per cent among groups two, three and four. 

‘Those who took most of their daily steps in longer bouts had a lower risk of death and cardiovascular disease, than those taking steps in shorter bouts,’ the researchers said.

‘These differences were greater among people who were more sedentary.’

They did, however, acknowledge that the study had some limitations, including the fact that cardiovascular disease medication was self-reported by study participants and dosage levels were not recorded.  

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week — or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise.

Sedentary lifestyles in the UK, with Brits spending their workhours deskbound then sitting in a train or car on their way home to sit down in front of the TV, have been estimated to kill thousands each year.

One 2019 estimate put the annual death toll at 70,000 people a year with the health issues caused costing the NHS £700million each year to treat.

A US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study in 2018 estimated almost one in 10 (8.3 per cent) of adult deaths in the US were caused by physical inactivity.

The WHO puts the annual global death toll from physical inactivity at around 2 million per year, making it in the running to be among the top 10 leading causes of global death and disability.

Physical inactivity has been long linked to health problems like cardiovascular disease as well contributing to health problems like obesity, itself linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and some cancers.