These days, a lot of fitness conversations center around a simple goal: getting more steps in, ideally 10,000 a day. While the benefits of walking are well known, it’s less clear whether how you accumulate those steps—short versus longer walks—affects health outcomes. A recent study published in Annals of Internal Medicine explored this question in adults who were suboptimally active, taking 8,000 steps or fewer per day.
Using data from 33,560 participants in the UK Biobank at an average age of 62, free of cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline, researchers tracked activity patterns for two years. Participants were grouped based on the duration of activity bouts where most steps were accumulated: under five minutes, five to 10 minutes, 10 to 15 minutes, or 15 minutes or longer.
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Over an average 7.9 year follow-up, there were 735 deaths and 3,119 cardiovascular events. The study found a trend: Adults who accumulated most of their daily steps in longer bouts—10 minutes or more—had significantly lower risks of cardiovascular disease and premature death compared with those who took most of their steps in shorter bursts.
“Most studies focus on the total number of daily steps (including our previous studies), but ours shows that how you accumulate those steps matters too—especially for less active individuals,” said Borja del Pozo Cruz, PhD, and the study’s first author, told CNN. “This adds nuance to the ‘10,000 steps a day’ idea: even if you don’t reach that number, taking a few longer walks rather than many short, scattered steps can make a real difference for heart health and longevity.”
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