(WXYZ) — In today’s Health Alert, a major study shows you don’t need to hit 10,000 steps a day to see real health benefits. Walking just 7,000 steps a day may be enough to help protect your heart, brain, and more.
I’ve always been a big believer in moving with purpose, and this study really shows how powerful that can be.
Now, researchers looked at health data from over 160,000 people across the world. They compared people who walked 7,000 steps a day to those who only walked 2,000 steps. And here’s what they found. Walking 7,000 steps was linked to a:
- 47% lower risk of dying from any cause
- 38% lower risk of dementia
- 25% lower risk of heart disease
- 22% lower risk of depression
- 14% lower risk of type 2 diabetes and a
- 6% lower risk of cancer
That’s pretty impressive. As for 10,000 steps, researchers found that most of the benefits started to level out after 7,000. But walking more may give your heart an extra boost.
When you move your body, your muscles get to work. And that triggers the release of special chemicals called exerkines. Exerkines do a lot of good things for your body. They help:
- lower inflammation
- keep your blood vessels healthy
- improve how your body handles insulin and
- help lower your blood pressure
And that’s not all. Walking regularly can:
- strengthen your bones and muscles
- boost your energy
- sharpen your thinking and memory
- lift your mood
- help you sleep better
- support your immune system and
- improve your balance and coordination, which can help protect against falls and fractures
Now, if walking isn’t your thing, you can still get the benefits in other ways. Activities like dancing, gardening, and pickleball count as do household chores like vacuuming. For those with chronic health conditions, you can try chair exercises, water workouts, tai chi, gentle yoga, and stretching. Even short walks help. If 7,000 is still too much, researchers found that just 4,000 steps a day can improve your health compared to only 2,000.
To me, it’s about moving with purpose. Find ways to move more during your day. Take the stairs when you can, park a little farther out, and stand up and stretch every hour. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just start where you are. Small steps, literally, can lead to big changes.
This Week on the Dr. Nandi Show
Nearly 40 trillion microbes call the human body home. Recently, science has come a long way in understanding the importance of these tiny creatures living inside us. Dr. Nandi sits down with the leading experts in human gut health. Dr. Michael Murray demonstrates the importance of digestive enzymes. Billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist, Naveen Jain, talks about how technology is unraveling the secrets of the human microbiome. And much more. Tune in this Saturday, July 26th, at 11:30 am to watch “The Gut Microbiome: What You Put in Your Mouth Affects Your Body”.
