You probably already know that walking is one of the most accessible and beneficial forms of activity you can add to your day. That’s why it’s the foundation of our Start TODAY app and community. But you might not realize that, among its many benefits, regular walking may also reduce your risk for dementia.
Recent research found that walking a particular number of steps per day may have a preventive effect against cognitive decline. And walking faster can provide even stronger benefits, the study found.
So, how many steps do you need to walk?
Expert Tip of the Day: Walk 10,000 Steps Daily to Cut Dementia Risk in Half
In a study published in JAMA Neurology in 2022, researchers analyzed walking data for more than 78,000 adults ages 40-79 and found that walking about 9,800 steps per day was associated with a 50% reduction in the risk for dementia.
“Probably the biggest takeaway is that 10,000 steps may be the optimal number of steps to reduce the risk of dementia, cutting it by 50%,” the study’s first author, Borja del Pozo Cruz, an adjunct associate professor at Southern Denmark University and a senior researcher in health at the University of Cadiz in Cadiz, Spain, told TODAY.com previously.
But the benefits of walking started at just 3,800 steps per day, which provided about half the benefit seen with 9,800 steps. So if 10,000 daily steps is a little too intimidating, rest assured that moving at all is beneficial — and aiming for around 4,000 steps a day is a great place to start.
Committing to a walking program, like the 30-Day Gratitude Walking Challenge in the Start TODAY app is a smart way to make walking a daily habit and rack up those steps.
Why It Matters
Staying physically active is an essential component of good health, especially as we age. But that doesn’t mean you need to be at the gym every single day.
Instead, it’s important to find a type of movement you actually enjoy. And lower-impact activities, like regular walking, have plenty of physical and mental health benefits.
As the 2022 study suggests, one of the major benefits of walking is it may help reduce your risk for dementia later in life.
“Walking is associated with better vascular profiles, which is probably the clearest pathway through which steps may benefit dementia,” Pozo Cruz told TODAY.com in an email previously.
In particular, “vascular dementia is the most preventable through physical activity,” Cruz added. Vascular dementia is a type of cognitive decline related to a lack of blood flow to the brain, the Mayo Clinic explains.
And, as TODAY.com previously explained, cardio exercises that get your heart rate up are the best types of workouts to prevent dementia.
How to Get Started
While the researchers noted that 10,000 steps per day will give you “optimal” results in terms of preventing cognitive decline, that’s a pretty big number. And taking fewer steps — around 4,000 daily — still provided significant benefits in this study.
And experts have told TODAY.com in the past that, while 10,000 steps per day is a popular goal, it isn’t some sort of magic threshold. Other research has found that around 7,000 steps per day is enough to help prevent many chronic diseases, for instance, and just 3,600 steps daily can significantly reduce your risk for heart failure.
Basically, do what you can, increase your walking intensity and duration slowly — and know that any amount of activity is better than none.
It’s a good idea to aim for at least 30 minutes of walking a day, Stephanie Mansour, certified personal trainer and TODAY fitness contributor, explained previously. Depending on how fast you walk, a 30-minute walk typically garners between 2,500 and 4,000 steps.
But start at whatever fitness level you’re at right now, Mansour says. For complete beginners, she recommends starting with 5 to 10 minutes of walking a day and gradually increasing the duration of your walks over time.
Keep in mind that, in the research, additional analyses showed that faster walking boosted the benefits even more. So, if walking for a longer distance or time isn’t feasible, try walking faster with a walking interval workout to push yourself and get even more out of your walk. Mansour guides you through an interval walk in this 30-Minute Holiday HIIT walking podcast in the Start TODAY app.
TODAY’s Expert Tip of the Day series is all about simple strategies to make life a little easier. Every Monday through Friday, different qualified experts share their best advice on diet, fitness, heart health, mental wellness and more.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com