By Stephen Beech via SWNS
Steps or minutes are equally beneficial exercise goals, according to a new study.
Researchers found that both the number of steps and time-based exercise targets are equivalently linked with better health, extended lifespan, and reduced risk of a heart attack or stroke.
Monitoring step counts has never been easier in the age of smartphones and watches.
However, current physical activity guidelines do not explicitly recommend specific step counts for well-being.
The new American study involving thousands of older women suggests that both step and time-based exercise targets are associated equally with lower risks of dying young and cardiovascular disease.
Choosing a time or step goal may not be as important as choosing a goal aligned with personal preferences, according to the findings published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Current US guidelines, last updated in 2018, recommend that adults engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity – such as brisk walking – or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, like jogging, per week.
But at the time the guidelines were drawn up few people had easy access to step counting technology.
With wearable devices now common and step counts a popular measure among many fitness tracking platforms, the research team wanted to find out how time-based goals stack up against step-based ones.
Study lead author Professor Rikuta Hamaya said: “We recognized that existing physical activity guidelines focus primarily on activity duration and intensity but lack step-based recommendations.
“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 – is one better than the other?”
The research team collected data from 14,399 women who did not have cardiovascular disease or cancer at the outset.
Between 2011 and 2015, participants aged 62 years and older were asked to wear research-grade wearables for seven consecutive days to record their physical activity levels, only removing the devices for sleep or water-related activities.
Annual questionnaires were completed throughout the study period until the end of 2022.
The findings showed that the participants engaged in an average of 62 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity per week and clocked up an average of 5,183 steps per day.
After nine years around nine percent of the participants had died while about four percent developed cardiovascular disease.
Higher levels of physical activity – whether assessed as step counts or time spent active – were associated with large reductions in the risk of dying or developing cardiovascular disease.
The most active women saw 30 to 40 percent risk reductions compared with the least active quarter, according to the findings.
And, those outside the bottom quarter in terms of physical activity outlived those in it by an average of 2.22 and 2.36 months respectively, based on time and step-based measurements.
The survival advantage persisted regardless of differences in body mass index (BMI), according to the researchers.
While both metrics are useful in portraying health status, they explained that each has its advantages and downsides.
Hamaya said step counts may not account for differences in fitness levels. For example, if a 20-year-old and 80-year-old both walk for 30 minutes at moderate intensity, their step counts may differ significantly.
But steps are straightforward to measure and less subject to interpretation compared to exercise intensity.
Steps capture even sporadic movements of everyday life, not just exercise, and those kinds of daily life activities are most likely those carried out by older individuals.
Hamaya, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston, Massachusetts, said: “For some, especially for younger individuals, exercise may involve activities like tennis, soccer, walking, or jogging, all of which can be easily tracked with steps.
“However, for others, it may consist of bike rides or swimming, where monitoring the duration of exercise is simpler.
“That’s why it’s important for physical activity guidelines to offer multiple ways to reach goals.
“Movement looks different for everyone, and nearly all forms of movement are beneficial to our health.”
Hamaya aims to collect more data via a controlled trial to better understand the relationship between time and step-based exercise measures and well-being.
Senior author Professor I-Min Lee, an epidemiologist at BWH, added: “The next federal physical activity guidelines are planned for 2028.
“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.”
