Brisk walking: why pace matters more than 10,000 steps

For centuries, few things have attracted as much quackery as tablets, tonics and grand claims that promise to slow ageing, increase vitality or prolong life. Still, once the hype is stripped away, some enduring truths stand out.

As early as 400 BC, Hippocrates - often regarded as the father of modern medicine - is credited with the line, "Walking is man's best medicine." More than 2,000 years on, the scientific evidence is finally beginning to catch up.

Steps, walking pace and the 10,000-step myth

People who take more than 8,000 steps a day cut their risk of premature death by around half compared with those who walk fewer than 5,000 steps - a common threshold used to define a sedentary lifestyle. After about 8,000 steps, however, the gains tend to level off, calling into question the long-standing idea that 10,000 steps a day is a magic number.

In reality, that target did not come from research at all, but from advertising. The 10,000-step goal was popularised in 1960s Japan through marketing for the first commercial pedometer, the manpo-kei - a name that literally means "10,000 steps meter".

More recently, scientists have returned to a straightforward but important question: is each step equal, or does moving faster - roughly a brisk pace of more than 100 steps per minute (about 5–6.5 km/h) - deliver extra health benefits?

Brisk walking for ageing and heart health

When it comes to ageing and cardiovascular health, the evidence increasingly suggests speed makes a difference. Simply swapping a 14-minute daily amble for a seven-minute brisk walk has been linked with a 14% drop in heart disease.

One study analysing data from more than 450,000 adults in the UK used a genetic marker of biological age and found that, by middle age, a lifetime of brisk walking is associated with being biologically up to 16 years younger than a lifetime of slow walking.

A later modelling study indicated it is not too late to benefit. It estimated that an inactive 60-year-old woman or man could add around an extra year to their life expectancy by introducing a ten minute brisk walk into their everyday routine.

The predictive power of brisk walking is also striking. Walking speed has been shown to be a stronger indicator of future risk of death from heart disease than traditional measures such as blood pressure and cholesterol. It also outperforms many other lifestyle indicators, including diet, obesity levels and total physical activity.

On this basis, perhaps the single most revealing question a doctor could ask is: "How fast is your walking pace in comparison to other people?"

Halo of benefits

Brisk walking does not necessarily add benefits for every outcome, or in every setting. For instance, whether brisk walking reduces cancer risk more than light-intensity walking remains less clear.

A recent study reported that overall walking was linked with lower risk across 13 different cancers, but that walking briskly did not provide additional value beyond total walking. Separately, breaking up long periods of sitting with light-intensity movement - simply pottering about - has also been shown to produce substantial metabolic effects.

Walking’s advantages extend well beyond physical health, creating a wider halo of benefits. It can support brain function, with studies showing it can double the production of creative ideas. The brain systems involved in memory and imagination are also among those activated during whole-body movement.

Many people already make use of this effect, heading out for a walk to think through problems and reach solutions or insights that may otherwise remain out of reach. The setting matters too: the mental health and cognitive gains from walking are thought to be greater when the walk takes place in nature.

So-called "nature prescriptions" have drawn on these principles in clinical groups, encouraging more walking while improving both mental and physical health.

Walking and the modern health economy

Physical inactivity is a major contributor to today’s epidemic of long-term conditions - including diabetes and heart disease - now seen across industrialised and developing economies alike. Estimates suggest that 3.9 million premature deaths each year could be prevented by tackling physical inactivity.

Yet healthcare systems tend to prioritise management over prevention: people become ill and then receive medicines to treat the condition. On average, it costs $1 billion to bring a new drug to market and, despite those research and development costs, such drugs can still generate substantial returns for shareholders - highlighting the scale of the health economy.

If even a small portion of that spending were redirected into public health programmes that expand opportunities for walking and physical activity for everyone, the need for an ever more complex medical management ecosystem might diminish.

Put simply, if you are looking for an elixir of life, you could do far worse than start by looking down at your feet.

Thomas E. Yates, Professor of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Health, Diabetes Research Centre, University of Leicester

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.