Most popular leisure time physical activity for adults.
Walking 60 minutes per day at a brisk pace is sufficient to meet physical activities for avoiding weight gain.
Patients with a brisk walking pace have a longer and similar life expectancy across the spectrum of BMI or other adiposity indices.
Walking pace is an easily available marker of overall health status.
The coexistence of a high BMI and a slow walking pace is associated with the lowest life expectancy.
Higher daily step count linked with lower all-cause mortality,
Higher daily step counts are associated with lower mortality risk from all causes.
NCI/CDC and National Institute on Aging found that the number of steps a person takes each day, but not the intensity of stepping, had a strong association with mortality.
The study tracked a representative sample of U.S. adults aged 40 and over; approximately 4,800 participants wore accelerometers for up to seven days between 2003 and 2006.
The participants were followed for mortality through 2015 via the National Death Index.
Compared with taking 4,000 steps per day, a number considered to be low for adults, taking 8,000 steps per day is associated with a 51% lower risk for all-cause mortality.
Taking 12,000 steps per day is associated with a 65% lower risk compared with taking 4,000 steps.
In this study there was no association between step intensity and risk of death after accounting for the total number of steps taken per day.
In a study of 18,000 women in the Women’s Health study found that walking intensities or cadence associated with all-cause mortality was attenuated by walking amounts measured as steps per day.
The study found higher step counts were associated with lower all-cause death rates among both men and women; among both younger and older adults; and among white, black, and Mexican-American adults.
Higher step counts were also associated with lower rates of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Adults should move more and sit less throughout the day.
Adults are recommended to get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week.
Being physically active has many benefits, including reducing a person’s risk of obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers.