30-minute walk vs 3,000 steps walk... Which is better for health?

Some people like to count their steps every day, while others prefer to exercise for a set amount of time. Which method is more beneficial for health?

 

A new study has found that both approaches reduce the risk of early death and heart disease, so individuals can choose their preferred method. This information is based on a paper by American researchers published on the 20th (local time) in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine (JAMA Internal Medicine), as reported by the health and medical webzine 'Health Day'.

 

Currently, the U.S. exercise guidelines are set based on time, recommending at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week or more than 75 minutes of vigorous activity. However, as the number of people using smartwatches increases, making it easier to track step counts, researchers explained that questions are being raised about whether step counts might be more suitable than time units for setting exercise goals.

Researcher Rikuta Hamaya from Brigham Women's Hospital, the lead author of the paper (Preventive Medicine), stated, "Activities such as tennis, soccer, walking, or jogging can be easily measured by the number of steps, while cycling and swimming are more easily measured by exercise duration."

 

He explained, "While existing physical activity guidelines mainly focus on the duration and intensity of activity, there is a lack of recommendations based on the increased step count with the proliferation of smartwatches, so I wanted to see which approach is better."

 

The researchers analyzed data from over 14,000 women who participated in a nationwide women's health study. Additionally, from 2011 to 2015, they asked participants aged 62 and older to wear an activity tracker continuously for seven days to record their physical activity. The device was only removed when sleeping or engaging in water-related activities.

 

Participants engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity for an average of 62 minutes per week and recorded approximately 5,200 steps per day. During an average follow-up period of 9 years, about 9% of participants died and 4% developed heart disease.

 

The researchers found that the most active women had a 30-40% lower risk of early death or heart disease regardless of whether they measured activity in hours or steps. Additionally, women in the top 75% of physical activity levels lived an average of 2.2 months longer per hour and 2.3 months longer based on step count compared to women in the bottom 25%. These survival benefits persisted regardless of differences in body mass index (BMI).

 

Researcher Hamaya stated that both step count and time-based units have advantages and disadvantages in tracking exercise goals. The number of steps taken during a 30-minute walk at a moderate intensity can vary greatly between a 20-year-old and an 80-year-old. On the other hand, step count has the advantage of being simpler to measure and less ambiguous in interpretation compared to time-based exercise intensity.

Step count also captures not only the time spent exercising but also physical activities included in daily life. Researchers pointed out that this is especially helpful in measuring activity levels among the elderly. Researcher Hamaya said, "Therefore, it is important for physical activity guidelines to offer various ways to achieve goals," and "movement varies from person to person, and almost all forms of movement are beneficial to our health."