Time to put your running shoes on 👟

For a long time, the consensus has been that achieving 10,000 steps per day is the golden standard for maintaining fitness and overall health. However, a recent study presents a different perspective, indicating that reaping benefits may require fewer steps – potentially fewer than 5,000.

5,000 steps is roughly equivalent to around 4 kilometers which is exactly the distance between Valletta and St. Venera if you decide to walk it out.

Upon analyzing data from over 226,000 individuals globally, the study revealed that attaining 4,000 steps daily was adequate to initiate a reduction in the risk of premature mortality from any cause. A modest count of just over 2,300 steps was found to confer benefits specifically to cardiovascular health and blood vessels.

Notably, the researchers emphasized that greater physical activity correlated with enhanced health outcomes. With each additional 1,000 steps beyond the initial 4,000, the likelihood of early mortality decreased by 15%, up to a threshold of 20,000 steps.

Conducted jointly by the Medical University of Lodz in Poland and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the US, the study found that these positive effects of walking were consistent across all genders and age groups, regardless of geographical location.

How many steps do you walk in a day? 🦶