Scientists Reveal the Exact Number of Steps to Walk to Live Longer
The centuries-old idea that movement is medicine is truer than ever. In fact, if all Americans over 40 moved as much as the most active 25%, the average life expectancy would rise by about five years, new research suggests.
For the least active people, a little more movement can bring even bigger benefits. If you now walk 49 minutes per day or less, walking an extra 111 minutes per day — for a total of 160 — could help you live about 11 years longer, the study found.
“The good news for people who are not very active now is that the first bit of activity counts the most,” says study author Lennert Veerman, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Public Health at Griffith University School of Medicine and Dentistry in Australia. “For someone who is sedentary, a thousand extra steps may feel like more of an effort than for someone who is fairly active already, but the health benefits are also much bigger.”
What makes this study so special?
Researchers looked at the effects of daily physical activity on life expectancy. They estimated step counts for people over 40 who wore movement trackers in a CDC study. They also used death data from a national registry, population data from the Census Bureau, and statistics from past studies showing the life-extending benefits of movement. (Studies have linked physical activity to a reduced risk of death from top killers like heart disease and cancer.)
The researchers found that the most active 25% of people moved an amount comparable to 160 minutes of daily walking at a pace of three miles per hour — a normal walking speed for a healthy adult. People in the bottom 25% moved an amount comparable to 49 minutes of daily walking.
Moving more could have dramatic effects for people with the most sedentary lifestyles, the researchers found. For example, adding just 29 minutes of daily movement could help a more sedentary person celebrate six more birthdays. Walking 111 more minutes per day could add 11 years to their life. Each additional hour walked could provide six more hours on Earth.
The findings suggest that physical activity provides more benefits than previously thought, the researchers say. “We were not surprised that our estimates of gains in life expectancy were greater than seen in previous studies,” says study author Jakob Tarp, Ph.D., a researcher in the Department of Sports Medicine at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences. “We used data based on measurements from devices, whereas others have used (then-available) self-reported physical activity. Device-based data is much more accurate than self-reports.”
Do these findings apply to everyone?
They're applicable for most people. While this study included people ages 40 and up, regular physical activity has perks at younger ages too — for mental health, improved sleep, weight maintenance and more, says Bethany Barone Gibbs, Ph.D., an exercise epidemiologist and chair of the epidemiology and biostatistics department at West Virginia University. “It's just incredible how much better off people who are physically active are,” she says.
Establishing an exercise habit early can help you stay active in future years. However, it’s also never too late to start. Movement might feel more challenging with aging, but it’s valuable to do what you can, says Gibbs. If you have orthopedic injuries or other health problems that make exercise difficult, talk with your doctor and consult a physical therapist or a personal trainer to help you exercise safely, says Gibbs.
What does this research mean for you?
If you’re already highly active, keep it up and keep challenging yourself. If not, find ways to move more — the key is picking things you enjoy enough to do them consistently. The study totaled movement throughout the day and didn’t distinguish vigorous from moderate activity, says Gibbs. To boost your fitness, you can do more of either.
Add steps to everything you do. “The easiest thing is often just walking, doing more around the house, or gardening,” says Gibbs. “All of that stuff is going to add up to more movement.”
Consider more intense fitness activities. Another option is adding more short but vigorous workouts to your schedule to accumulate more steps in less time. “There are lots of higher intensity activities that are not running, which is what everyone thinks about,” says Gibbs. “There are many things, like a spin class or swimming, that are lower impact or might be easier for people to do.”
Use a fitness tracker to measure your progress. “Having a wearable to stay on track and set goals for yourself is so important,” says Gibbs. If you reach the end of the workday and see your step count has barely budged, you might feel extra motivation to get moving.
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