Walking pace matters as much as step count for longevity, study finds

A new study from Monash University and the University of Sydney has found that how fast you walk matters just as much as how many steps you take—and that this combination can reduce your risk of early death by up to 43 percent. The research, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, challenges the widely accepted notion that everyone needs to hit 10,000 steps daily to stay healthy. Instead, it suggests that people can achieve substantial mortality benefits through different combinations: fewer steps taken at a brisk pace, or more steps taken at a slower pace.

The study analyzed data from 64,743 middle-aged participants in the UK Biobank who wore activity trackers for seven consecutive days between 2013 and 2015. Over an average follow-up period of eight years, 1,697 participants died from any cause, and 502 died from cardiovascular disease. This real-world tracking allowed researchers to measure not just how many steps people took, but the intensity at which they took them—a dimension that previous research had left largely unexplored.

Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, who led the research at the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre and now directs the Monash Brain Park, emphasized that the findings could be particularly valuable for people facing genuine barriers to accumulating high step counts. "We found that the risk was substantially lower among those achieving a higher stepping pace but fewer than 5000 daily steps," he said. "Similarly, the risk of early death was substantially reduced among those clocking up 5000 to 7500 daily steps but at a lower stepping pace." This flexibility matters enormously for people managing time constraints, disabilities, or environmental obstacles.

The 10,000-step target that dominates fitness culture has an unexpected origin story. Dr. Nicholas Koemel, a senior research fellow at Monash, pointed out that this figure actually came from a 1960s Japanese pedometer marketing campaign, not from rigorous scientific evidence. "For a 65-year-old managing a knee issue, a carer with fragmented time, or a shift worker, a high step target can be a reason to give up rather than a reason to start," Koemel said. The new research suggests that such arbitrary targets may discourage people who could genuinely benefit from more modest, sustainable activity levels.

Associate Professor Matthew Ahmadi, another co-author, stressed that consistency trumps intensity spikes. "The body responds to habitual patterns, not to irregular and infrequent effort, so what counts is what you do on most days over months and years, not a motivated fortnight," he explained. He also noted that there is no universal pace that works for everyone—what feels like a comfortable walk for a fit 40-year-old might represent maximum effort for a 70-year-old. The most practical way to gauge whether you're walking at a beneficial intensity is simple: pay attention to your breathing. At a brisk pace sustained for at least a minute, you should be breathing noticeably harder and feeling warmer, still able to hold a conversation in short sentences, but unable to sing comfortably.

The research contributes to a growing body of evidence suggesting that step-based interventions need not be one-size-fits-all. For middle-aged and older adults, particularly those facing barriers to increasing their activity, the message is clear: every step counts, and how you take those steps can matter just as much as the total number. The findings may reshape how public health officials and fitness professionals approach physical activity recommendations, moving away from rigid targets toward more personalized, sustainable approaches that account for individual circumstances and capabilities.