Optimal Daily Step Count to Combat Sedentary Lifestyle

You may be familiar with the recommendation of achieving 10,000 steps per day for adults. While this guideline offers a straightforward goal, it overlooks the diversity in human lifestyles and physiology.

A multinational team of researchers has discovered that even individuals leading highly sedentary lifestyles can mitigate the negative effects of prolonged sitting by incorporating more steps into their daily routine.

The well-documented link between sedentary behaviors and increased risks of cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, diabetes, and shortened lifespan underscores the growing prevalence of inactive lifestyles. Conversely, individuals with higher step counts and brisk walking paces tend to experience lower risks of these health issues.

However, it remained uncertain whether individuals with predominantly sedentary habits could counteract these health risks by increasing their daily step count.

Steps Towards Better Health

The study revealed that individuals who took more steps, regardless of their sedentary behavior, exhibited reduced risks of CVD and premature mortality. Therefore, individuals with desk-bound occupations need not feel entirely discouraged, although the researchers stress the importance of minimizing sedentary time whenever possible.

“This does not imply a pardon for those who spend excessive periods being sedentary,” explains Matthew Ahmadi, a population health scientist from the University of Sydney in Australia. “Nevertheless, it underscores a crucial public health message that any form of movement is beneficial, and individuals can and should strive to mitigate the health consequences of unavoidable sedentary periods by increasing their daily step count.”

Ahmadi and his team conducted an analysis of data from 72,174 volunteers enrolled in the UK Biobank, a comprehensive long-term dataset initiated in 2006 that tracks participants’ health parameters over a minimum of 30 years.

Analyzing Physical Activity Data from Wrist Accelerometers

Each participant included in the study contributed an average of 6.9 years of general health data. These individuals wore wrist accelerometers for seven consecutive days to assess their physical activity levels, such as step counts and sedentary time.

On average, participants spent 10.6 hours per day in sedentary activities. Individuals who exceeded this duration were designated as having ‘high sedentary time,’ while those with fewer hours were classified as having ‘low sedentary time.’

The research excluded individuals whose initial two years of data might have been influenced by poor health, focusing exclusively on generally healthy participants during this period. It is unclear whether individuals with disabilities impacting their step counts were part of the dataset.

The researchers determined that an optimal daily step count of 9,000 to 10,000 could mitigate the adverse effects of prolonged sedentary behavior, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease by 21 percent and mortality risk by 39 percent.

Irrespective of the duration spent in sedentary activities, the researchers noted significant advantages when participants achieved around 4,000 to 4,500 daily steps.

Ahmadi and his team claim that exceeding the baseline of 2,200 steps per day, regardless of sedentary behaviors, reduces mortality and lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Accumulating 9,000 to 10,000 steps daily optimally reduces mortality and cardiovascular disease risk in highly sedentary individuals.

Read the original article on: Science Alert

Read more: A Healthy Lifestyle May Help Prevent Depression, and New Research Delves into the Underlying Reasons