Weekly 15,000 steps could add three years to your life

WALKING 5,000 steps three times a week could add three years to your life, a London School of Economics (LSE) study has found.

Researchers found that regular walking for more than two years adds 2.5 years to the life expectancy of physically inactive men and three years for inactive women.

Around a third of Britons are considered physically inactive because they complete less than 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week – or around 22 minutes of brisk walking per day.

If just half of inactive Brits walked the 15,000 steps a week, it would reduce the burden of disease and death on society and save the NHS £15 billion per year, the study said.

Experts from LSE and health insurance firm Vitality found that the benefits were more pronounced the older people were.

For example, people aged 65 and over could cut their risk of death by 52 per cent if they sustained a habit of walking 7,500 steps three or more times a week.

This dropped to 38 per cent for those aged 45 to 65 years old and was 27 per cent for the population as a whole.

Regular exercise among those who are inactive reduces the chance of becoming obese or developing Type 2 diabetes. Researchers said a 55-year-old with Type 2 diabetes could reduce their risk of death by 40 per cent if they start walking 5,000 steps three times a week.

Around five million people in Britain have diabetes, which costs the NHS around 10 per cent of its annual budget, currently around £160 billion.

The results suggest fewer steps are needed to maintain good health than the much acclaimed milestone of 10,000 steps a day.

Even a single day of 5,000 steps in a week has benefits for health and could save the NHS £4 billion each year through fewer people being hospitalised, experts said.

Neville Koopowitz, chief executive of Vitality, said the research shows “the power of small behavioural changes”.

“Taking consistent steps to achieve a health habit is key, and we can see within this data that it’s never too late to start. This approach to habitual physical activity and exercise has the potential to completely transform and improve our collective health,” he said.

It comes after a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine last week found that any steps above 2,200 per day had benefits for heart health and mortality, with those managing 4,000 cutting their risk of an early death by 20 per cent.