Key TakeawaysNew research shows you can get health benefits from regular exercise whether you count your steps or plan to exercise for a specific amount of time.The HHS recommends adults log 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week.There’s still no official recommendation for steps, but researchers say roughly 7,000 per day is a good benchmark.

Key Takeaways

New research shows you can get health benefits from regular exercise whether you count your steps or plan to exercise for a specific amount of time.The HHS recommends adults log 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week.There’s still no official recommendation for steps, but researchers say roughly 7,000 per day is a good benchmark.

The study was based on data from women with a mean age of 62, but the researchers say the findings likely apply to all adults.

CurrentU.S. guidelinesfor physical activity from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) were last updated in 2018. They don’t include recommendations for step counts during exercise, only the recommended amount of time you should exercise per week. For adults, that’s 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week.

“We recognized that existing physical activity guidelines focus primarily on activity duration and intensity but lack step-based recommendations,”Rikuta Hamaya, MD, PhD, a researcher in the Division of Preventive Medicine at BWH and the lead author of the study, told Verywell.

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The Importance of Multiple Metrics

When the 2018 HHS guidelines were published, most of the existing evidence on health benefits came from studies where participants self-reported their physical activity. There was little information on the relationship between steps and health. More recently, however, wearable devices such as smartwatches and smartphones that can track steps have become popular and reliable.

“With more people using smartwatches to measure their steps and overall health, we saw the importance of ascertaining how step-based measurements compare to time-based targets in their association with health outcomes,” Hamaya said.

The Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers found that participants using wearable devices engaged in a median of 62 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity per week and took a median of 5,183 steps per day. During a median follow-up of nine years, approximately 9% of participants had died, and 4% developed cardiovascular disease.

The study found that levels of physical activity higher than the median, whether measured as step counts or time in moderate-to-vigorous activity, were associated with large risk reductions in death or cardiovascular disease. The study also found that the most active women had 30-40% risk reductions compared with the least active women.

So How Many Steps Do You Need?

While it’s easy to track some exercise with steps, such as tennis, walking, soccer, or jogging, other activities can’t be tracked that way, including bike rides and swimming.

“That’s why it’s important for physical activity guidelines to offer multiple ways to reach goals,” Hamaya said.

The study didn’t offer step or time guidelines, but Hamaya said that for timed exercise, he recommendssticking with the current HHS guidelines:150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, like brisk walking or fast dancing, each week. (The guidelines also say that adults also need muscle-strengthening activity, like lifting weights or doing push-ups, at least two days each week.)

While there is not yet a federal guideline on the number of steps needed, Dr. Hamaya says previous studies suggest 7,000 or so steps a day may be enough for older adults.

Do You Really Need 10,000 Steps a Day for Your Health?

The risk of early death continued to drop among the women who walked more than 5,000 steps per day, but the benefits plateaued at roughly 7,500 daily steps.

“Our findings further establish the importance of adding step-based targets in order to accommodate flexibility of goals that work for individuals with differing preferences, abilities, and lifestyles,” Lee told Verywell.

Going forward, Hamaya hopes to conduct randomized controlled trials that look at people actually exercising using time or steps to better understand the relationship between time-based versus step-based exercise metrics and health.

What This Means For YouIncorporating step-based targets into your exercise routine can be as beneficial as traditional time-based goals for improving health and reducing cardiovascular risk. Aim for either 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity activity weekly or about 7,000 steps daily to see significant health benefits.

What This Means For You

Incorporating step-based targets into your exercise routine can be as beneficial as traditional time-based goals for improving health and reducing cardiovascular risk. Aim for either 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity activity weekly or about 7,000 steps daily to see significant health benefits.

2 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Hamaya R, Shiroma EJ, Moore CC, Buring JE, Evenson KR, Lee I.Time- vs step-based physical activity metrics for health.JAMA Intern Med.Published online May 20, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.0892Lee IM, Shiroma EJ, Kamada M, Bassett DR, Matthews CE, Buring JE.Association of step volume and intensity with all-cause mortality in older women.JAMA Intern Med. 2019;179(8):1105-1112. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.0899

2 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Hamaya R, Shiroma EJ, Moore CC, Buring JE, Evenson KR, Lee I.Time- vs step-based physical activity metrics for health.JAMA Intern Med.Published online May 20, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.0892Lee IM, Shiroma EJ, Kamada M, Bassett DR, Matthews CE, Buring JE.Association of step volume and intensity with all-cause mortality in older women.JAMA Intern Med. 2019;179(8):1105-1112. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.0899

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Hamaya R, Shiroma EJ, Moore CC, Buring JE, Evenson KR, Lee I.Time- vs step-based physical activity metrics for health.JAMA Intern Med.Published online May 20, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.0892Lee IM, Shiroma EJ, Kamada M, Bassett DR, Matthews CE, Buring JE.Association of step volume and intensity with all-cause mortality in older women.JAMA Intern Med. 2019;179(8):1105-1112. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.0899

Hamaya R, Shiroma EJ, Moore CC, Buring JE, Evenson KR, Lee I.Time- vs step-based physical activity metrics for health.JAMA Intern Med.Published online May 20, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.0892

Lee IM, Shiroma EJ, Kamada M, Bassett DR, Matthews CE, Buring JE.Association of step volume and intensity with all-cause mortality in older women.JAMA Intern Med. 2019;179(8):1105-1112. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.0899

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