Steps count, but how many is ideal?

At first the buzz was that walking 10,000 steps daily would keep us healthy. More recent articles described a lower threshold ranging from 5,000 to 8,000 steps. The latest proven research?

Get out your walking shoes everyone, it’s a runaway for 10,000 steps.

Based on a study of 78,500 participants and reported in JAMA Neurology, the magic number of “10K steps a day” has been directly linked to potentially reducing three major diseases—13 types of cancer, cardiovascular-related conditions and dementia. Avoiding any one of these life-threatening diseases should be a powerful motivator to wear a fitness tracker and move, move, move. And offsetting today’s sedentary tendencies is another popular topic with plenty of press covering ideas and lifestyle practices designed to “get your body’s motor running.”  

Goals are one thing, achieving them is another. Still, doing something is better than nothing. Walking 3,800 steps a day, you can reduce the risk of dementia by 25 percent and with every 2,000 steps you take, you could lower overall premature death by 8% to 11%. Depending on the length of your stride, a mile or more of brisk walking each day will make a healthy difference. Imagine what 4 to 5 miles a day will do!

WATCH INFORMATIVE “STEPS” VIDEO