The Power of Walking: Unlocking Health Benefits Step by Step

Are you an avid walker? Do you use a Fitbit or other device to monitor your daily steps? Have you fallen short on your walking activities or feel like you can’t get your steps in like you used to? Although 10,000 steps per day is the desirable target for reaping the heart healthy benefits of walking, a recent study delves into step counts and health benefits for all step counts. If you are unable to reach the magical 10,000 steps per day, rest assured there are still great benefits with consistently reaching smaller daily step goals.    

Do you remember your parents or grandparents saying they had to walk 2 miles (uphill both ways) to and from school every day? What about using a manual push mower or chopping wood for heat? Even the little things, like having to walk to the television to turn the channel or the door to check who was there? The creature comforts and technology dependencies of modern society have changed habits, physical activity, and number of daily steps, contributing to physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles.   

Increasing Sedentary Habits around the Globe

In high-income countries, a staggering 36.8 % of the population is physically inactive compared to 16.2% in low-income countries. Globally, an astonishing 81% of adolescents are physically inactive. 

Statistics from World Health Organization show that physical inactivity leads to 3.2 million deaths each year, making it the 4th most frequent cause of death. The good news is that small changes our daily behaviors, such as adding even a few hundred steps per day, can improve health.    

Health Benefits of Steps 

An extensive meta-analysis review published in the European Journal of Cardiology demonstrates the profound impact of daily steps can make in your health. Health benefits of walking started even with as few as 2500 – 4000 steps/day. 

• A sedentary lifestyle is defined as less than 5000 steps per day.

• Measurements were based on an adult with average height with a step length between 2.1 to 2.5 feet. 

• Walking 2500 steps or about one mile per day begins to reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. 

• For every 1000 steps per day led to a 15% drop in all-cause mortality. 

• Even an additional 500 steps per day led to a 7% reduced risk of cardiovascular mortality. 

• At around 4000 total steps, the risk for early death from any cause is reduced. 

• At 6000 steps, women have a reduced risk for type 2 diabetes. 

• At 6500 steps, lower blood pressure was observed. 

• At 8000 steps, there was a lower risk for depression, obesity, and sleep apnea. 

• Achieving 9800 steps lowered the risk for developing dementia by 50 percent. 

• 10,500 steps per day the risk of heart disease-related death was decreased by 77% more than 2500 steps. 

• Reaching 11,000 steps, you can reduce your risk for depression, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and sleep apnea by an additional 25-50% compared to 6000 steps. 

• At 11,500 steps, or about 5 to 5 ½ miles per day, the risk of early death reduced by 67 percent compared to 4000 steps.  

 This gives me incentive to go for another walk! How about you?  

Blue Zones and Additional Health Benefits of Walking 

The quest for understanding exercise benefits, aging well, and health have led to the identification and establishment of Blue Zones. Blue Zones are regions of the world where people live longer, healthier lives than anywhere else. The five Blue Zones established include Okinawa in Japan, Sardinia in Italy, Nicoya in Costa Rica, Icaria in Greece, and the Seventh-day Adventist community in Loma Linda, California. Apart from their healthy diets, residents of Blue Zones’ daily habits include engaging in regular walking and other low-intensity physical activities. 

Walking and physical activities in Blue Zones showed substantial health benefits, including increased aerobic and respiratory fitness, decreased body weight and body mass index, and improved blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and lower hemoglobin A1C/blood sugar. 

Impressive Benefits

Furthermore, regular exercise, like walking, provides an array of other impressive benefits. Walking promotes vascular and endothelial lining health and integrity. It stimulates the release of beneficial nitric oxide which helps blood vessel dilation. 

Walking activates anti-inflammatory mechanisms throughout the body, benefiting the heart, brain, respiratory tract, bones, joints, endocrine system, and all cells. Additional endocrine benefits include improved testosterone levels. A recent study showed a testosterone levels increased by 7ng/dl for every additional 1000 steps beyond 4000 steps. Lower than average testosterone levels occurred with physical inactivity.  

DNA Repair and Telomere Length

Walking and exercise promote and activate DNA repair and maintenance mechanisms, enhance gene stability, and reduce the accumulation of DNA damage over time. Exercise also modulates telomere length, a factor associated with cell aging. 

Stress Tolerance and Creativity

Walking improves stress tolerance, resilience, and mood. It has even been shown to boost your creative output by an average of 60 percent compared to sitting. 

Antioxidant Activity, Mitochondrial Function, and Anti-Aging Metabolism

Walking enhances antioxidant defense, offsetting oxidative stress and reducing production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. It improves mitochondrial function, stimulates the birth of new mitochondria, and helps mitigate the effects of chronic low-grade inflammation and the effects of aging, i.e. inflammaging. It helps delay the onset of age-related sarcopenia or the loss of muscle mass. It activates insulin signaling, AMPK, sirtuins, and numerous other metabolic mechanisms. 

Tissue Repair and Regeneration 

Walking, and physical activity promotes the release of growth factors and cytokines that support tissue repair and regeneration. Stem cell function and maintenance activities are also positively modified. 

Walking aids in maintaining joint and cartilage health. Another recent study demonstrated that a six-week walking program reduced overall pain levels in individuals with osteoarthritis of the knee. Walking also improves outcome and management of chronic low back pain.  

If your New Year’s Resolution to be more physically active has been missing the mark, these studies provide great incentive to get in more steps! Even small amounts of activity provide benefits. Whether it is engaging in “Silver Sneakers” activities, walking the dog, or taking a break from office and computer work, it’s time to go for your daily walk! Get your sneakers on and get up and go!