Exact number of steps to each day to 'add 3 years to your life - it's not 10K

12 March 2024 , 17:14

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You don't have to worry about doing 10,000 steps according to a new study (stock photo) (Image: Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)

For those who struggle to walk 10,000 steps a day, listen up.

We all know how important it is to get our steps in each day for our health - it's been revealed how many we should be doing daily. For years, we've been told that 10,000 steps is the magical number, although it's now been found far fewer steps still have the same effect.

In a study by Vitality Insurance and the London School of Economics, they found that walking 5,000 steps just three days a week can have all sorts of health benefits - and that it can increase life expectancy by three years.

In the study, they analysed walking habits and health of just over one million people in the UK and South Africa for a decade and they found that 35 per cent of people in the UK are "inactive", and due to this, is leading to a huge increase in diseases such as type 2 diabetes and in result fuelling hospitalisations.

The researchers concluded that if just half of those did even 5,000 steps once a week, the savings on the NHS for hospitalisations would be a staggering £4 billion. It was also found that people 65 and over who walked more than 7,500 steps three times a week were around 52 per cent less likely to have a premature death. Those aged between 45-65 had a 38 per cent reduction and there was a 27 per cent reduction for the rest of the population in the UK.

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"Taking consistent steps to achieve a healthy habit is key, and we can see from this data that it’s never too late to start," Neville Koopowitz, Vitality CEO, told The Sun. So walking 5,000 steps three times a week for just two years can increase life expectancy by 2.5 years for men and three years for women - but the more you do the better.

10,000 steps three times a week can help to reduce type 2 diabetes risks by 41 per cent, and if you did this four times a week, it reduces the risk even more to 57 per cent.

Professor Joan Costa-Font, London School of Economics, said: "The findings of this study are a clear call to action for policymakers to promote prevention in public health and build on the power of healthy habits to improve individual and collective health outcomes.

"Successful habit-based interventions can lengthen life expectancy, entail considerable savings for public health services, improve productivity, and help address the significant long-term challenges posed by mental health, social isolation, and non-communicable diseases such as cancer and type 2 diabetes."

It's recommended by NHS that people should be doing some sort of exercise every day, and strength training at least twice a week.

Niamh Kirk