Lower Mortality Was Associated with Walking Even 2 Days Weekly

A regular walking program is associated with lower cardiovascular (CV)-related and all-cause mortality; recommendations often focus on walking at least 5 days weekly with at least 10,000 steps daily. In this study, researchers explored benefits of a less-intense walking program, specifically 8000 steps daily for as little as 1 to 2 days weekly. Using data from a U.S. national health survey, investigators identified a racially diverse sample of 3100 adult participants (mean age, 51) whose accelerometer-based step counts were categorized according to how many days weekly they walked at least 8000 steps (i.e., 0, 1–2 days, 3–7 days); participants were followed for 10 years.

A total of 439 all-cause deaths (148 deaths from CV-related causes) wer…