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Scientifically Speaking | Where health is concerned, even small steps matter

ByAnirban Mahapatra
Jan 14, 2025 08:25 PM IST

People who stay active tend to live longer and face lower risks of heart disease, stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and dementia

Do you ever feel guilty about not hitting 10,000 steps on some days? Or wonder if those brief bursts of activity like rushing to catch the bus matter? New research offers encouraging news: even modest amounts of physical activity can greatly improve your health.

Do you ever feel guilty about not hitting 10,000 steps on some days? Or wonder if those brief bursts of activity like rushing to catch the bus matter?(Pixabay) PREMIUM
Do you ever feel guilty about not hitting 10,000 steps on some days? Or wonder if those brief bursts of activity like rushing to catch the bus matter?(Pixabay)

An analysis published in Nature Medicine earlier this month shows that small doses of physical activity yield meaningful health benefits. This insight could help those daunted by traditional exercise recommendations find new ways to embrace movement in their daily lives. What makes this analysis particularly compelling is its use of wearable fitness tracker data, which captures every movement more accurately than traditional methods that rely on people remembering and reporting their activities.

The research identified three key levels of physical activity that benefit health. Light-intensity activities (the kind you might not even think of as exercise) include casual walking, playing with children or pets, and everyday tasks like washing dishes. Then there are moderate-intensity activities, such as brisk walking at 4 km per hour or faster, gardening, and leisurely cycling, which form the foundation of current guidelines recommending 150 minutes per week. For those able to push a bit harder, vigorous-intensity activities like running, climbing stairs, or hiking uphill offer even greater benefits. The encouraging news now is that even short bursts of these activities can improve health, even when scattered throughout your day.

The evidence paints a clear picture. People who stay active tend to live longer and face lower risks of heart disease, stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and dementia. They also enjoy better physical and mental function, experience less anxiety and depression, and sleep better at night.

Perhaps most reassuring is what the data from wearable trackers reveals. Health benefits begin with surprisingly modest activity levels, even below the commonly recommended 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week. Simple activities like gardening, playing with children, or walking to grab the post all contribute to better health.

The findings challenge long-held assumptions about exercise. First, light-intensity activities, long dismissed as insignificant, meaningfully contribute to health outcomes. Second, those brief bursts of vigorous activity during daily life, like climbing stairs or hurrying to catch a bus, can significantly lower the risks of mortality and cancer. Third, even achieving 4,000-5,000 steps per day which is well below the often-cited 10,000-step goal is shown to be associated with notable health benefits.

Speaking of those 10,000 steps, their origin story reveals much about how our understanding of exercise has evolved. Nine months ago, this column explored how this widely known target emerged not from scientific research but from a 1965 Japanese marketing campaign. The figure was chosen partly for its aesthetic appeal in Japanese characters, which resembled a person walking. While a recent British Journal of Sports Medicine study of 72,000 participants over seven years found that walking 9,000-10,000 steps daily reduced mortality risk by 39% and cardiovascular disease risk by 21%, significant benefits started accumulating at much lower levels.

The history of medicine's view on physical activity reads almost like scientific satire. At the turn of the 20th century, physicians actively discouraged vigorous movement, fearing it would damage the heart. Young men who enjoyed rowing, cycling, or running faced stern medical warnings about the supposed dangers of their pursuits. Even more striking, until the 1950s, doctors prescribed weeks of complete bed rest following heart attacks, a practice we now know often caused more harm than good.

The first crack in this sedentary doctrine came from an observant London epidemiologist, Jerry Morris. His landmark 1953 study found something we now know to be self-evident. London bus conductors, who spent their days climbing stairs between bus decks, had significantly lower rates of heart disease than their sedentary driver colleagues. This finding was reinforced by Ralph Paffenbarger's research at Harvard University, which showed that active undergraduates experienced lower rates of heart disease in midlife compared to their peers who are less active.

Our evolving understanding reflects a broader pattern in medical science. Just as our predecessors' beliefs about bed rest seem misguided today, future generations may view some of our current exercise prescriptions as overly rigid or incomplete.

What remains constant is the growing evidence that movement, in almost any form and amount, benefits human health. For now, the message is clear and encouraging. Whether you're taking a leisurely stroll, doing household chores, or sprinting to catch a bus, you're contributing to your health. In the relatively young discipline of modern medicine, few things have been proven more conclusively than the benefits of physical activity. As research continues to refine our understanding, one thing seems certain: when it comes to physical activity, some is good, more is generally better, and it's never too late to start moving more.

Anirban Mahapatra is a scientist and author, most recently of the popular science book, When the Drugs Don’t Work: The Hidden Pandemic That Could End Medicine. The views expressed are personal.

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