Can’t Hit 10,000 Steps? You Don’t Need to

A major international study from the University of Sydney has found that walking 7,000 steps each day can offer many of the same health benefits as walking 10,000 steps. The research, led by Professor Melody Ding from the School of Public Health, was published in The Lancet Public Health. It reviewed data from 57 studies conducted between 2014 and 2025 across more than ten countries, including Australia, the US, the UK, and Japan.

This review is the most extensive analysis to date on how daily step counts relate to serious health outcomes. The researchers explored how different levels of daily walking affect the likelihood of dying from heart disease or cancer, as well as the chances of developing conditions like type 2 diabetes, dementia, depression, and cancer. Professor Ding noted that the results provide a more attainable goal for individuals who may find it difficult to meet conventional exercise recommendations.

“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 Ding.

“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.

“We know daily step count is linked to living longer, but we now also have evidence that walking at least 7000 steps a day can significantly improve eight major health outcomes – including reducing risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, and depressive symptoms.”

The researchers looked at studies in which participants wore step-counting devices, such as pedometers, accelerometers, and fitness trackers, to track their daily step counts. Starting at 2,000 steps, experts compared the health outcomes of people walking more steps a day at 1,000-step increments to see whether there was any difference in the risk of early death or other major diseases.

When compared with 2,000 steps a day, researchers found that:

Walking 7,000 steps a day reduced the risk of death by 47 percent, which was almost identical to the benefit seen at walking 10,000 steps per day.

Dementia risk dropped by 38 percent from walking 7000 steps a day, with only a 7 percent extra reduction at 10,000 steps.

Risk of type 2 diabetes fell by 22 percent from walking 10,000 steps a day and reduced to 27 percent at 12,000 steps.

Significant health improvements were seen when people increased their average daily steps from 2000 to between 5,000 and 7,000 steps.

“For people who are already active, 10,000 steps a day is great,” said Dr. Katherine Owen, co-author and chief analyst of the study from the School of Public Health. “But beyond 7,000 steps, the extra benefits for most of the health outcomes we looked at were modest.”

The researchers are working with the Australian government to use the evidence from this study to inform future updates to physical activity guidelines.

“Our research helps to shift the focus from perfection to progress. Even small increases in daily movement can lead to meaningful health improvements,” said Professor Ding.

Experts are calling for future studies to explore how step goals should vary based on age, health status and region, and to include diverse populations and longer-term data to strengthen the evidence. Professor Ding says this kind of detail is rare and will be useful for health practitioners when tailoring advice for patients.

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