JAMA sub-journal: Walking 10,000 steps a day can effectively reduce the incidence and mortality of cancer and cardiovascular diseases

It is often said that "life lies in sports", and among the common people there is also a saying
that "walk 100 steps after meals and live to 99".
These sayings all emphasize the importance of
walking as an exercise for health.
But there is a lack of conclusive evidence to support "how much and how to go?" each day.
"to maximize the benefits of the relevant research
.

On September 12, 2022, JAMA Internal Medicine (IF=44.
409) published an article examining the association between daily steps and walking intensity and all-cause morbidity/mortality of all-cause mortality, cancer, and cardiovascular disease (CVD), finding that the risk of all-cause mortality, cancer death, and CVD death tended to decrease significantly as the number of steps per day increased, and the highest health benefits were achieved when walking about 10,000 steps per day
。

This prospective cohort study included 78,500 participants (mean age 61±8 years) with a total of 7 years
of follow-up.
The findings found that for every 2,000 additional steps per day, participants had an 8 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality, an 11 percent lower risk of cancer death, and a 10 percent
lower risk of CVD death.
When the daily step count reaches 10,000, the cumulative risk of death from all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular disease will be reduced by about
50%.
In addition, as the peak number of steps (i.
e.
, the speed at which one walks) increases at 30 minutes, so do the health benefits of reducing the risk of all-cause death, cancer, and CVD death
.
However, we note that after the cumulative number of steps on the day is greater than 10,000 steps and/or the peak step count in 30 minutes is greater than 80 steps/min, the occurrence of the above diseases does not continue to decrease, but there is a risk
of further increase.
Fig.
1 Relationship between step count and risk of all-cause mortality (A), CVD-related death (B), and cancer-related death (C) with 10,000 steps as the turning point.
Fig.
2 The dose-response relationship between the peak number of steps in 30 minutes and the risk of all-cause mortality (A), CVD-related death (B), and cancer-related death (C).

Previous cross-sectional studies and small cohort evidence suggests a possible association between increased walking and a reduced risk of CVD prevalence, but strong evidence from large and prospective samples is
lacking.
The results of this prospective cohort study based on nearly 80,000 people suggest that up to 10,000 steps per day are associated with
lower rates of all-cause mortality, cancer, and CVD.
Walking at a faster and regular pace further reduces the risk of additional disease, especially for sudden illness
.
However, the number of steps and pace is not the more the better, and more than 10,000 steps/day is counterproductive and increases the risk of
disease.
The researchers said that the study included middle-aged and elderly people aged 40-79, and for this special group, it is more meaningful
to tell them how many steps to take and how fast to walk than other more complex physical activities.

It is worth mentioning that the research team also studied the relationship between step count, pace and dementia risk in another recently published paper (JAMA Neurology, IF=29.
907, published on September 6, 2022).

It was found that taking more steps per day was strongly associated
with a reduced risk of dementia.
Walking about 9800 steps a day reduces the risk of dementia by 50%, and increasing the walking speed can further reduce
the risk of dementia.

The World Health Organization believes that "walking is the best exercise in the world", and these two high-quality latest studies remind us that it is time to dominate the top list of step counts, avoid sitting and standing for a long time, and let the body move all the time
.
While paying attention to the number of walks, according to their own conditions, appropriately accelerate the frequency and speed of walking, 10,000 steps a day, and "stride" towards the goal of a healthy life
.