10,000 Steps a Day Decreases Chances of Early Death by 46 Percent

Being sedentary is not good for your health. Instead walk a mile daily to prevent early death, reveals a new study.

A team of Australian researchers conducted a study to analyze popular health apps like pedometers and Fitbits. The study was led by Dr. Terry Dwyer, George Institute for Global Health, Australia.

‘Avoid sedentary lifestyle. Instead take at least 3000 steps a day to be fit as a fiddle.’

"Inactivity is a major public health problem, with conditions like obesity costing the economy tens of billions of dollars every year," said Professor Dwyer.

They monitored the use of pedometers among 3000 previously sedentary middle-aged Australian men and women, with an average age of 58. Pedometers were given to the participants at the beginning and again approximately five years later during the trial to measure the number of steps they took each day.

They found that increasing daily steps from 1000 to 10,000 a day can lower a sedentary person's chance of dying early by 46 percent. Even increasing steps a little to about 3000 a day, five days a week, delayed death by 12 percent.

Professor Terry Dwyer said that it was the first time research had been able to make a direct link between exercise, measured directly through pedometers, and reduced mortality over time in people who appeared healthy at the outset.

Researchers also suggested that increasing daily steps at an early stage of life can produce greater results than the study produced. The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Source: Medindia