With the emergence of various wearable health smart devices, the number of walking steps has become an item that people secretly compete with. Some people travel tens of thousands of miles a day and keep a low profile, while others are at the other extreme—come and see, I only walked a few dozen steps today!
In addition to showing off in the circle of friends, walking is indeed a very convenient way of exercise. Going to work, going to school, walking the dog, shopping for groceries, or even strolling in a big house with a full 72 square meters, you can have the opportunity to take two steps. From a health point of view, many studies have shown that walking more every day can prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer and other chronic diseases, and is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of premature death .
However, let's not patronize the number of steps, the walking intensity is also worthy of attention .
Researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia and the University of Southern Denmark conducted a large-scale prospective study with a follow-up period of 7 years, including 78,000 people for analysis. They found that walking 10,000 steps per day is the optimal number of steps, within this range, increasing the number of steps is associated with CVD, cancer risk, related death risk, and lower risk of all-cause death, and faster walking speed can obtain more health benefits . The article was recently published in JAMA Internal Medicine . [1]
Not only that, but based on this cohort, they also focused on the relationship between step count, pace speed and dementia risk in another paper. From the perspective of reducing the risk of dementia, the optimal number of steps per day is 9826, which is related to a 51% reduction in the risk of dementia; if the number of steps can reach 112 steps per minute for 30 minutes a day, it is related to a 62% reduction in the risk of dementia (no walking to 10,000 steps) . The article was recently published in the journal JAMA Neurology . [2]
It is worth noting that the researchers increased the convincingness of the research conclusions by wearing wrist-worn devices to the participants to accurately collect their movement conditions.
Daily application is one aspect. The emergence of wearable health smart devices and the gradual maturity of technology have made research in sports and health related fields more accurate and credible.
In this study cohort, researchers from the University of Sydney and the University of Southern Denmark obtained data from a total of 78,500 people from the UK Biobank , mailed them a wrist-worn health smart device (Axivity AX3), and asked to wear it 24 hours a day , for 7 days, monitoring of physical activity, followed by long-term follow-up.
The mean age of participants was 61.1 years (40-79 years), and 55.3% were women. During the average follow-up period of 7 years , the relationship between the number of steps, gait speed/walking intensity and the risk of dementia, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and related death, cancer and related death, and all-cause mortality was analyzed. relation.
Adjusted multivariate analysis showed that the number of steps was non-linearly associated with the risk of various diseases and the risk of death.
Specifically, every 2,000 steps taken per day was associated with an 8%, 11%, and 10% reduction in the risk of all-cause death, CVD-related death, and cancer-related death, and a 4% reduction in the risk of CVD . But after reaching about 10,000 steps, if the number of steps continues to increase, it may be "ineffective" walking or even counterproductive .
如果每天以＞40步/分钟的速度行走或是抽出30分钟时间（不一定连续进行）走得快些，效果会更好。
另外，走路还可以降低痴呆风险。
分析结果显示，从降低痴呆风险的角度出发，每天9826步为最适步数，与风险降低51%相关；走不了这么多，起码要走至3826步，这是获益最小步数，与风险降低25%相关，再少就与痴呆风险降低无显著关联了。
具体到不同的步行强度，步数可做相应调整。
步速＜40步/分钟，那么每天至少走3677步，与痴呆风险降低42%相关（HR 0.58，95%CI 0.44-0.72）。步速＞40步/分钟，每天的最适步数为6315，与痴呆风险降低57%相关（HR 0.43，95% CI 0.32-0.58）。
值得注意的是，每天只要有30分钟时间（不一定连续进行）步速达到112步/分钟，比日行万步（随意步速）的效果还好，与痴呆风险降低62%相关（HR 0.38，95%CI 0.24–0.60）。
总而言之，这两项研究不仅提供了获得最佳健康收益的步数，同时强调了步行强度的重要性。腕带式健康智能设备的使用，使得计步数据更加准确，贴合参与者的日常行为活动。
此次队列中的参与者为40-79岁的中老年人，研究人员表示，对于这个群体来说，直白地告诉他们该走多少步、走多快，相比其它较为复杂的身体活动，或许更具有意义。对此结论，其他研究者也感到很有趣，西蒙菲莎大学的Scott Lear评论道，“不管能走多少步，都比一点儿也不走好，哪怕是做家务、日常活动、工作等也可以算进来”。[5]
参考文献：
[1]del Pozo Cruz B, Ahmadi MN, Lee I, Stamatakis E. Prospective Associations of Daily Step Counts and Intensity With Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Incidence and Mortality and All-Cause Mortality. JAMA Intern Med. Published online September 12, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.4000
[2]del Pozo Cruz B, Ahmadi M, Naismith SL, Stamatakis E. Association of Daily Step Count and Intensity With Incident Dementia in 78 430 Adults Living in the UK. JAMA Neurol. Published online September 06, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2022.2672
[3]https://axivity.com/product/ax3
[4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8kqGg2pcwE
[5]https://www.tctmd.com/news/higher-step-counts-equal-better-cv-health-uk-biobank