Forget 10,000 Steps: Just 7,000 Steps a Day Can Transform Your Health

Walking more can bring many health benefits. This study showed that taking about 7,000 steps a day already helps reduce the risk of premature death, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression, dementia, and falls. Even without reaching the famous 10,000 steps, it's already possible to see significant improvements in your health. Step counting is a simple and practical way to track your daily physical activity.

Regular physical activity brings several health benefits. It helps reduce the risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer, and even premature death.

However, a large portion of the world's population does not perform the minimum recommended amount of exercise, which is about 150 minutes per week of moderate activity (or 75 minutes of more intense activity).

When people don't reach this minimum, their risk of developing chronic diseases increases, and healthcare systems end up facing higher treatment costs, in addition to declining productivity.

Unfortunately, it is estimated that one in three adults worldwide is insufficiently physically active, and this trend has not improved in recent years.

Therefore, public health guidelines play a role in transforming scientific findings into practical guidance for governments, health professionals, and the general public. To date, these guidelines have focused primarily on total time spent engaged in moderate- or vigorous-intensity physical activity as a measure of whether a person is active or not.

However, a simpler and easier way to track daily activity is to count the number of steps taken per day, something that can be done with devices such as pedometers, smartwatches, or other activity trackers.

While they cannot measure all types of exercise (e.g., cycling or exercising in a wheelchair), steps are a useful measure of movement throughout the day and reflect different intensities and situations in everyday life.

In recent years, interest in using step counts as a basis for health recommendations has grown. However, when the United States' physical activity guidelines were published in 2018 and the World Health Organization's in 2020, there was still insufficient scientific evidence to suggest an ideal number of daily steps.

Since then, with the increased use of technologies to monitor physical activity, there has been significant progress in research on the topic. Even so, many scientific reviews to date have focused solely on the risks of death or cardiovascular disease, neglecting other important aspects of health.

Therefore, as part of the process of updating the Australian guidelines for physical activity in adults and older adults, the authors of this study conducted a comprehensive review of the scientific literature, along with statistical analyses called meta-analyses.

The goal was to examine whether there is a relationship between the number of steps a person takes per day and several important health outcomes. These outcomes included the risk of death from any cause, heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, mental health (such as depression and anxiety), cognitive health (such as memory and dementia), physical capacity (such as mobility), and risk of falls.

They also investigated whether the speed or intensity with which steps are taken could influence these outcomes.

To do this, the researchers searched for studies published between January 2014 and February 2025 in two major scientific databases, and included only long-term studies that used devices to count adults' steps.

They also analyzed the quality of these studies using a recognized tool in the field. The data from each study were pooled and compared, whenever possible, using robust statistical methods. Finally, the overall quality of the evidence was assessed using an international system called GRADE, which classifies the reliability of the results.

At the end of the search, 57 studies from 35 different participant groups were included in the overall review, and 31 of these studies were used in the more in-depth analyses. The results showed that, for most health outcomes, the more steps a person takes per day, the lower their risk of developing disease or dying.

This relationship was especially clear for all-cause mortality, heart disease, dementia, and falls, with benefits observed primarily when reaching between 5,000 and 7,000 steps per day.

(A) All-cause mortality. (B) Incidence of cardiovascular disease. (C) Mortality from cardiovascular disease. (D) Incidence of cancer. (E) Mortality from cancer. (F) Type 2 diabetes. (G) Dementia. (H) Symptoms of depression. (I) Falls. The dashed horizontal line at HR 1.0 represents the threshold at which exposure neither increases nor decreases the risk of the outcome relative to the reference point. The vertical line at 2,000 steps represents the reference point. The lower bar represents the number of data points from studies, with darker colors representing a larger cluster of data points.

Furthermore, there was a decrease in the risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes, and symptoms of depression as steps increased. For example, compared to a person who takes only 2,000 steps per day, someone who takes 7,000 steps has almost half the risk of dying from any cause. There were also significant reductions in the risk of heart disease, cancer, dementia, and depression.

Despite some limitations, such as the small number of studies for certain outcomes or the lack of separate analyses by age, the results indicate that walking more daily is strongly linked to significant improvements in physical and mental health.

While the 10,000-step-per-day goal remains valid for more active people, 7,000 steps has proven to be a highly effective and realistic goal for a large portion of the population, especially for those just starting to move more.

These findings reinforce the usefulness of step counting as a practical, accessible, and effective way to encourage physical activity and guide public health policies. This study was funded by Australian research and health institutions, including the National Health and Medical Research Council, the New South Wales Department of Health, and the Ian Potter Foundation.

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Daily steps and health outcomes in adults: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis

Ding Ding, Binh Nguyen, Tracy Nau, Mengyun Luo, Borja del Pozo Cruz, Paddy C Dempsey, Zachary Munn, Barbara J Jefferis, Cathie Sherrington, Elizabeth A Calleja, Kar Hau Chong, Rochelle Davis, Monique E Francois, Anne Tiedemann, Stuart J H Biddle, Anthony Okely, Adrian Bauman, Ulf Ekelund, Philip Clare and Katherine Owen

The Lancet Public Health.  23 July 2025

DOI: 10.1016/S2468-2667(25)00164-1

Abstract: 

Despite the rapid increase in evidence from the past decade on daily steps and health-related outcomes, existing systematic reviews primarily focused on few outcomes, such as all-cause mortality. This study synthesised the prospective dose-response relationship between daily steps and health outcomes including all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, cognitive outcomes, mental health outcomes, physical function, and falls. For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched PubMed and EBSCO CINAHL for literature published between Jan 1, 2014, and Feb 14, 2025, supplemented by other search strategies. Eligible prospective studies examined the relationship between device-measured daily steps and health outcomes among adults without restrictions on language or publication type. Pairs of reviewers (BN, KO, ML, and TN) independently did the study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment using the 9-point Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Hazard ratios (HRs) from individual studies were synthesised using random-effects dose-response meta-analysis where possible. Certainty of evidence was assessed using GRADE. This trial is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42024529706). 57 studies from 35 cohorts were included in the systematic review and 31 studies from 24 cohorts were included in meta-analyses. For all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease incidence, dementia, and falls, an inverse non-linear dose-response association was found, with inflection points at around 5000–7000 steps per day. An inverse linear association was found for cardiovascular disease mortality, cancer incidence, cancer mortality, type 2 diabetes incidence, and depressive symptoms. Based on our meta-analyses, compared with 2000 steps per day, 7000 steps per day was associated with a 47% lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR 0·53 [95% CI 0·46–0·60]; I2=36·3; 14 studies), a 25% lower risk of cardiovascular disease incidence (HR 0·75 [0·67–0·85]; I2=38·3%; six studies), a 47% lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality (HR 0·53 [0·37–0·77]; I2=78·2%; three studies), a non-significant 6% lower risk of cancer incidence (HR 0·94 [0·87–1·01]; I2=73·7%; two studies), a 37% lower risk of cancer mortality (HR 0·63 [0·55–0·72]; I2=64·5%; three studies), a 14% lower risk of type 2 diabetes (HR 0·86 [0·74–0·99]; I2=48·5%; four studies), a 38% lower risk of dementia (HR 0·62 [0·53–0·73]; I2=0%; two studies), a 22% lower risk of depressive symptoms (HR 0·78 [0·73–0·83]; I2=36·2%; three studies), and a 28% lower risk of falls (HR 0·72 [0·65–0·81]; I2=47·5%; four studies). Studies on physical function (not based on meta-analysis) reported similar inverse associations. The evidence certainty was moderate for all outcomes except for cardiovascular disease mortality (low), cancer incidence (low), physical function (low), and falls (very low). Although 10 000 steps per day can still be a viable target for those who are more active, 7000 steps per day is associated with clinically meaningful improvements in health outcomes and might be a more realistic and achievable target for some. The findings of the study should be interpreted in light of limitations, such as the small number of studies available for most outcomes, a lack of age-specific analysis and biases at the individual study level, including residual confounding. National Health and Medical Research Council, New South Wales Health, and Ian Potter Foundation.