A 14-Year Study Links Daily Step Count To Better Focus & Decision-Making

We’ve all had those afternoons when our brains seem to stop cooperating. You reread the same email three times, struggle to concentrate on a simple task, or find yourself reaching for another coffee just to get through the day.

When that happens, it’s tempting to blame a bad night’s sleep, a busy schedule, or the fact that you haven’t eaten lunch yet. And sometimes, that’s exactly what’s going on. But how much you’re moving throughout the day may also have something to do with how well your brain is working.

We’ve heard plenty about the physical benefits of walking, but new research suggests our daily step count might tell us something about our ability to focus and make decisions, too.

Tracking daily steps & blood pressure over 14 years

In a new study published in Scientific Reports, researchers analyzed data from ~3,100 adults ages 18 to 93 who participated in the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program. Rather than asking people to estimate how much they exercised, researchers used step counts collected from Fitbit devices, along with blood pressure readings from medical records.

The data covered a 14-year period, from 2009 to 2023, giving researchers a way to examine long-term patterns in physical activity and blood pressure.

At the end of the observation period, participants completed four computerized tests measuring different aspects of brain function, including their ability to concentrate, ignore distractions, make decisions, and recognize emotions.

The researchers wanted to see whether people who consistently moved more performed differently on these tests, and whether blood pressure helped explain any connection.

People who walked more performed better on cognitive tests

The researchers divided participants into three groups based on their average daily steps:

• About 5,100 steps per day: The least active group

• About 8,900 steps per day: The moderately active group

• About 14,200 steps per day: The most active group

Both the 8,900-step and 14,200-step groups performed significantly better than the lowest-step group on tests measuring sustained attention, the ability to filter out distractions, and decision-making involving future rewards.

In other words, people who regularly walked more tended to perform better on several tasks that reflect how we focus and make decisions in everyday life. And you didn’t necessarily need to reach 10,000 steps to see a connection. Each additional 1,000 daily steps was associated with better performance on several cognitive measures.

Interestingly, blood pressure explained very little of the relationship between physical activity and cognitive performance. That suggests walking may be connected to brain health through other pathways, potentially including improved blood sugar regulation, reduced inflammation, and changes that support the brain’s ability to adapt and form connections.

How to add more daily steps for better brain health

So, should you start aiming for 14,000 steps every day?

Not necessarily. This was an observational study, meaning it found a relationship between walking and cognitive performance but couldn’t prove that taking more steps directly improved brain function.

Researchers also measured cognitive performance only at the end of the study, so they couldn’t determine how participants’ thinking skills changed over time. Still, the findings offer another reason to make everyday movement a priority.

If you’re currently averaging around 5,000 steps, try working toward 6,000 or 7,000 rather than immediately aiming for 10,000.

A few easy ways to add movement to your day include:

• Take a 10-minute walk after lunch. It’s an easy way to break up the workday and get some extra steps.

• Walk during phone calls. A 20-minute conversation can add a surprising amount of movement.

• Break up long stretches of sitting. Get up for a few minutes between meetings or whenever you’ve been at your desk for a while.

• Make walking part of your routine. A morning walk, an evening stroll, or walking to get coffee can make extra steps feel less like another workout.

RELATED READ: 4 Small Tweaks That Turn Your Walk Into A Seriously Effective Workout

The takeaway

We tend to think about walking as a way to support cardiovascular health, stay active, or reach a daily fitness goal. But this research suggests that our everyday movement habits may also be connected to how well we concentrate, manage distractions, and make decisions.