Walking at least 8,000 steps a week could prevent death risk: study

Walking 8,000 steps a day or two a week is known to reduce the risk of death, according to a study published in the journal .

New York: Walking 8,000 steps — about four miles (6.4 kilometers) — about four miles (6.4 kilometers) a day or two a week — may significantly reduce your risk of early death, according to one study.

While regular exercise is known to reduce the risk of death, this study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, looked at the health benefits of intensive walking just a few days a week.

People who walked 8,000 or more steps a day or two a week were 14.9 percent less likely to die within 10 years than those who never reached that mark, the findings showed.

For those who walked 8,000 or more steps 3 to 7 days a week, the risk of death was lower — 16.5 percent. The health benefits of walking 8,000 steps or more on one or two days per week appeared to be higher for participants aged 65 and older.

“Days of 8,000 or more steps per week were associated with a lower risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality,” say researchers from Kyoto University in Japan and the University of California in the United States.

“These findings suggest that individuals can experience significant health benefits from walking as little as a few days per week,” they added.

For the study, the team used the daily step counts of 3,100 participants in 2005 and 2006 and examined their mortality data 10 years later.

Of the participants, 632 walked 8,000 or more steps on zero days per week, 532 walked 8,000 or more steps one to two days per week, and 1,937 walked 8,000 or more steps three to seven days per week.

According to the Mayo Clinic, walking regularly can reduce your risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and depression.