The relationship between daily steps and dementia risk
Do you know how many steps on average you take each day? Is it anywhere near the 10,000 that is regularly used as a daily benchmark? And are 10,000 steps right for you?
According to several Harvard researchers, the daily 10,000-step benchmark originated in the 1960s as a marketing campaign of an early Japanese pedometer maker. In the decades since this campaign, many researchers in medicine, public health, exercise physiology and other fields have studied this topic from various angles. Outcomes from these studies have consistently confirmed the benefits of regular exercise to physical, emotional and cognitive health.
In September of this year, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a paper by a team of researchers in the United Kingdom which followed 78,000 adults for over six years. The study’s goal was to learn more about the relationship between daily steps and dementia diagnosis. The following are some of the study highlights:
≤ More daily steps were associated with a lower risk of all types of dementia.
≤ Optimal daily steps were estimated at 9,800.
≤ Benefits were noted at just 3,800 daily steps.
≤ Optimal intensity was identified at 30 minutes of walking at 112 steps per minute or about two steps per second.
Before rushing out to purchase a new fitness tracker or signing up for a gym membership, consider the following ideas to increase the likelihood of making this New Year’s resolution last beyond January.
≤ Talk with your health care professional before beginning any new exercise regiment.
≤ Identify health tracking tools you already have. Many smartphones either come with a fitness tracker preloaded or free programs that can be downloaded. Doubling up the usefulness of technology you already carry maximizes the ease in tracking daily steps.
≤ Contact your health insurance company to learn about member benefits. Some may offer health trackers in exchange for sharing your statistics for a set period of time while others may offer incentives for reaching a specific step count each week or month.
≤ Calculate your daily baseline. The average American walks 3,000-4,000 steps each day, which is approximately 1 1/2 to 2 miles. Track daily steps for seven days to determine your average daily starting point.
≤ Set realistic goals to increase daily steps over a period of weeks or months. Increasing average steps by 500 or 1,000 each week will allow your body to adapt to the increased activity and identify ways in which you can incorporate additional movement throughout each day.
≤ Identify strategies to incorporate more steps during regular daily activities. Some ideas may be to begin or increase the length of daily walks with the dog, find an exercise buddy, download and listen to music or books while you walk or schedule short walks throughout the day.
≤ Safely increase walking intensity. Set a timer for 60 seconds and count the number of steps you take at various speeds or during specific activities. As you become more aware of your steps per minute, consciously make an effort to increase that rate slightly.
Besides the possible effect on slowing cognitive decline, moderate levels of walking have been associated with many other health benefits like lower rates of depression, less cardiovascular disease, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol and lower resting heart rate, all with no adverse side effects. If you are someone who enjoys reading in-depth research articles, more academic journals are opening access to the general public without subscription fees, including the two below:
≤ “Association of Daily Step Count and Intensity With Incident Dementia in 78,430 Adults Living in the UK,” Journal of the American Medical Association, Neurology, September 2022.
≤ “Is there evidence that walking groups have health benefits?”, British Journal of Sports Medicine, June 2015.