Overview
- An Annals of Internal Medicine analysis of UK Biobank data reports that accumulating steps in continuous 10–15 minute stretches is linked to lower cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality than taking the same steps in very short spurts.
- The study tracked 33,560 adults aged about 40–79 who averaged under 8,000 steps per day, used wrist accelerometers for up to a week, and were followed for roughly eight years for health outcomes.
- Participants with longer walking bouts had about a 4% cardiovascular-event risk versus roughly 13% for those taking mostly sub‑5‑minute bouts, and among those at 5,000 steps or fewer, a continuous 15‑minute walk cut cardiovascular risk from about 15% to 7% and reduced mortality from around 5% to under 1%.
- Study authors suggest that one or two daily walks of at least 10–15 minutes at a comfortable, steady pace could deliver meaningful benefits, particularly for relatively inactive adults.
- Experts caution the findings are observational, based on brief activity monitoring, and may reflect unmeasured factors, and they call for randomized trials and better assessment of walking intensity as guidance shifts away from rigid 10,000‑step targets.