Your steps count

By Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D. on Jun 26, 2024

We have long advocated walking -- with an ultimate goal of 10,000 steps or step equivalents a day, every day, no excuses -- as a consistently good way to protect your health. But official exercise recommendations -- get 150 minutes a week of moderate to intense exercise weekly -- haven't ever said how much walking might provide benefits that are equivalent to 150 minutes of sweating to the oldies.

Well, a new study in JAMA Internal Medicine that looked at a decade of data on almost 15,000 women age 62 and older found that whether you are walking for around 3,799 to 7,000 steps daily or aiming to get up to 150 minutes of moderate to intense exercise weekly, your protection from cardiovascular disease and reduced risk of death from all causes is pretty equal.

For folks who love walking or for whom Pilates or flow yoga are not body-friendly, this is welcome confirmation that their daily walks are providing protection from heart attack and stroke.

And if you want to amp up the benefits of walking, go for interval training. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst say a moderate walking pace is around 100 steps per minute; intense is about 130. Try alternating a couple of minutes of intense walking with five minutes at a moderate pace. Repeat till you hit your desired step count. Another great way to make walking more health-protective: Try throwing five flights of stairs a day into your routine.

Now we've talked the talk about your walk. Let's see you walk the walk!

Dr. Mike Roizen is the founder of www.longevityplaybook.com, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is global advisor to www.iHerb.com, the world's leading online health store. Roizen and Oz are chief wellness officer emeritus at Cleveland Clinic and professor emeritus at Columbia University, respectively. Together they have written 11 New York Times bestsellers (four No. 1's).

Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.