Overview
- An analysis in Annals of Internal Medicine of 33,560 UK Biobank participants who typically took 8,000 steps or fewer per day found that accumulating steps in 10–15 minute bouts was linked to lower rates of cardiovascular events and death than very short bouts.
- Those concentrating steps in longer bouts had about a 4% estimated 10‑year cardiovascular risk versus roughly 13% among people whose walking came mostly in spurts under five minutes, with mortality also lower for the longer‑bout group.
- The largest gains appeared in the least active group (≤5,000 steps/day), where longer steady walks were associated with a drop in cardiovascular risk from 15% to 7% and a reduction in mortality from about 5% to under 1%.
- Study authors suggest practical steps such as adding one or two 10–15 minute continuous walks at a comfortable, steady pace, noting that hitting 10,000 steps is not required for heart‑health benefits.
- The evidence is observational and based on a week of accelerometer data in an older, largely limited sample, so experts urge cautious interpretation and call for randomized trials, even as other recent research points to varied step targets like about 7,000 daily or around 4,000 several times a week.