“With ethics consent, this information [from the UK Biobank] was linked with participants’ health records through several data sources and registries including inpatient hospital, primary care records, and cancer and death registries,” said USYD.
A new study by the University of Sydney (USYD) has said that walking 10,000 steps a day can do a lot for peoples health but that walking fast is just as important.
A partnership between USYD and the University of Southern Denmark oversaw a study which had 78,500 participants wear activity trackers.
From this they confirmed a long-believed truth, that walking 10,000 steps a day can lower the risk of heart disease, dementia and help people to live longer.
But in their research it was also found that walking at a faster pace could be beneficial and help towards lowering the risk of such diseases.
“Step count is easily understood and widely used by the public to track activity levels thanks to the growing popularity of fitness trackers and apps, but rarely do people think about the pace of their steps,” said Professor of Physical Activity at USYD Emmanuel Stamatakis.
“Findings from these studies could inform the first formal step-based physical activity guidelines and help develop effective public health programs aimed at preventing chronic disease.”
Researchers discovered that every 2,000 steps a person takes, there is a lowered risk of death by eight to 11 per cent. Similar results were found to reduce the likelihood of heart disease and cancer.
It was determined that 9,800 steps a day could lower the risk of dementia by 50 per cent.
Carrying out the study was done by utilizing data from the UK Biobank over a seven-year period.
Over 78,000 people aged 40 to 79 had their physical activity monitored via a wrist accelerometer for a week. They were required to wear it a minimum of three days including on a weekend day and had to wear it while they were sleeping.
After two years-worth of data, scientists eliminated people who had heart disease, cancer or dementia as a baseline to begin their analysis.
Although they said their results are only observational and can’t yet show direct cause and effect, it’s hoped that more research will be done for conclusive findings.
“The size and scope of these studies using wrist-worn trackers makes it the most robust evidence to date suggesting that 10,000 steps a day is the sweet spot for health benefits and walking faster is associated with additional benefits,” said Dr Matthew Ahamdi.
“Going forward more research with longer-term use of trackers will shed more light on the health benefits associated with certain levels and intensity of daily stepping.”
