- Research suggests walking 7,000 steps daily offers the same health benefits as 10,000 steps.
- Walking a minimum of 7,000 steps can minimize the risk of early death by 47%.
- Increasing from 2,000 to 4,000 daily steps is linked to significant health gains.
Take a walk, 10,000-step goal. A new study says you might be too demanding when it comes to boosting health.
Research from the University of Sydney shows that walking at least 7,000 steps a day offers about the same health benefits as the widely touted 10,000 steps we’ve heard about for years.
Just 7,000 steps a day can reduce the risk of premature death by up to 47%, per the study in the journal The Lancet Public Health. The study focused on how much impact different daily step counts had on the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.
The team also examined the relationship between walking a certain number of steps and the risk of developing various diseases, including cancer, type 2 diabetes, dementia and depression.
“Aiming for 7,000 steps is a realistic goal based on our findings, which assessed health outcomes in a range of areas that hadn’t been looked at before,” said professor Melody Ding, who led the study. “However, for those who cannot yet achieve 7,000 steps a day, even small increases in step counts — such as increasing from 2,000 to 4,000 steps a day, are associated with significant health gain,” she said in a written statement.
“We know daily step count is linked to living longer, but we now also have evidence that walking at least 7,000 steps a day can significantly improve eight major health outcomes, including reducing risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia and depressive symptoms,” she said.
The study’s mechanics
The study by researchers at the University of Sydney looked at data from nearly five dozen studies conducted between 2014 and 2025 in more than 10 countries, including the U.S., Australia, United Kingdom and Japan. It is the “largest and most comprehensive review to date,” per the researchers from the university’s School of Public Health.
The researchers used pedometers, accelerometers and other fitness trackers to see how far study participants walked each day. Beginning with 2,000 steps, experts compared the health outcomes, looking at 1,000-step increments to see if the numbers made a difference.
Per the news release, compared to 2,000 steps a day, they found:
- Walking 7,000 steps a day reduced risk of death by 47% — almost identical to the benefit of walking 10,000 steps per day.
- Dementia risk dropped by 38% at 7,000 steps a day, with just a 7% extra reduction at 10,000 steps.
- Risk of type 2 diabetes fell by 22% from walking 10,000 steps a day and reduced to 27% at 12,000 steps.
- Significant health improvements were seen when people increased their average daily steps from 2,000 to between 5,000 and 7,000 steps.
That doesn’t mean you should slow down if you’re already hitting the 10,000-step benchmark, said Dr. Katherine Owen, co-author and the study’s chief analyst. But she added that the health benefits of the extra steps are “modest.”
Ding said the study “helps to shift the focus from perfection to progress. Even small increases in daily movement can lead to meaningful health improvements.”
More study is needed to see if set goals should vary based on age, health status and region.
10,000 steps a made-up number
The study is not the first to say 10,000 steps isn’t really scientific when it comes to health benefits.
As Northern Arizona University reported in 2023, the number has been ingrained for years, but it’s not like a scientific study declared that a magic number.
Rather it can be traced more than 60 years back to Japan, when a marketing campaign for a pedometer called the “manpo-kei” gave the notion the patina of settled fact. “Manpo-kei” means “10,000 steps meter.” And it was chosen because it was “catchy.”
The 2023 release notes other things to consider when raising or evaluating your activity level, including your own fitness level, intensity — which is needed to boost heart health — as an amble doesn’t do much, and what kind of health outcome you want to achieve.
Per the article, “Research suggests that moderate-intensity physical activity for at least 150 minutes a week or vigorous-intensity activity for 75 minutes a week is a helpful benchmark for cardiovascular health — regardless of the number of steps. This can provide a gentle guide of what to shoot for, however, it’s best to focus on your own individual starting point and increase gradually from there.”
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