People between the ages of 40 and 79 who took 9,826 steps per day were 50% less likely to develop dementia within seven years, the study found. Furthermore, people who walked with “purpose” – at a pace over 40 steps a minute – were able to cut their risk of dementia by 57% with just 6,315 steps a day.
“It is a brisk walking activity, like a power walk,” said study coauthor Borja del Pozo Cruz, an adjunct associate professor at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Denmark, and senior researcher in health sciences for the University of Cadiz in Spain.
Even people who walked approximately 3,800 steps a day at any speed cut their risk of dementia by 25%, the study found.
“That would be enough, at first, for sedentary individuals,” said del Pozo Cruz in an email.
“In fact, it is a message that doctors could use to motivate very sedentary older adults – 4k steps is very doable by many, even those that are less fit or do not feel very motivated,” he added. “Perhaps, more […]
I used to be able to run the mile in 4 minutes; until I became disabled, and now I cannot run or even walk very much. Of course I am 75 years old, so I expected to have less energy and ability to run or walk like I used to once I got older.