After New Year’s Eve, there are those who need to get back on track. The consequences of excesses at the table, including food and alcohol, are felt on the scale with the extra kilos. The effect, however, risks being felt in terms of health in the long term. The solution is to get back on the road immediately: that’s enough walkwith moderate physical activity which – if carried out regularly – helps the heart by reducing the risk of heart attack, helps keep blood pressure under control, helps reduce cholesterol and blood sugar.
Among various certainties, there is a question that is often not associated with a peremptory and precise answer. How much physical activity is necessary to feel a real benefit? And in particular, how many steps do you need to take per day to feel a positive effect? It has long been said, written and read that the goal must be 10,000 steps daily. To help the heart and brain, however, even something less is enough. Starting perhaps from today, January 1st, with the start of 2026.
The study published in Lancet Public Health shows that a high step count is associated with a reduced risk of serious health problems. “We have a perception that we should be walking 10,000 steps a day,” says lead author of the research, Professor Melody Ding, “but this idea is not based on scientific evidence.”
Ten thousand steps are equivalent to approximately 8 kilometres, although the distance obviously varies depending on the length of the stride: height, sex, age and speed affect the width of the ‘compass’. The number 10,000 has been considered a point of reference since the 1960s, as the BBC recalls. Ahead of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, a brand of pedometer called manpo-kei, which roughly translates as “10,000 step pedometer,” was launched in Japan. The number has been “taken out of context”, says Professor Ding, and credited with a value it does not possess. So, what is the right number of steps? For science it is 7000.
The study
The Lancet study analyzed previous research and data on the health and physical activity of more than 160,000 adults worldwide. Compared to those who walk 2,000 steps a day, better news for those capable of taking 7,000 steps daily: these people are associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (- 25%), cancer (- 6%), dementia (- 38%) and depression (- 22%). A series of more reasons, therefore, to get back on track from the beginning of 2026 after the holidays.
In reality, it is not essential to start out quickly. Even a relatively low number of steps, about 4,000 steps per day, is associated with better health than further reduced activity. For most health conditions, the benefits tend to plateau beyond 7,000 steps: longer walks produce positive effects particularly for the heart.
The ‘magic number’ has always been the subject of discussion in the scientific community. And ‘study 7000’ also fuels a debate. Professor Daniel Bailey, a scholar of sedentary behavior and health at Brunel University in London, highlights that the study debunks the “myth” according to which 10,000 steps a day are necessary. Getting to the ‘5-digit’ number may be an appropriate goal for those who are more active, but aiming for 5,000-7,000 may be a “more realistic and achievable goal” for others. For Professor Andrew Scott, professor of clinical exercise physiology at the University of Portsmouth, a specific number is not the key to the reasoning: “More is always better” but you shouldn’t set yourself with a specific goal, especially on days when activity is limited.
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