Researchers have found that brisk-walking moderately instead of achieving the10,000 steps goal and limiting inactivity can curb cardiometabolic risks and boost health readings.
Cardiometabolic risks refer to one's chances of having a heart stroke or diseases , diabetes, blood pressure and BMI.
"Some physical activity is better than none, and typically more is better than less," said John Schuna Jr, assistant professor of kinesiology in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences of Oregon State University (OSU) and co-author of a study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, according to ecns.cn.
"When it comes to steps, more is better than fewer, and steps at higher cadences for a significant amount of time are beneficial. A good target for healthy adults is 150 minutes per week spent at 100 or more steps per minute," Schuna added.
Walking an average of 10,000 steps per day equals to a vigorous or moderate workout of around 150 minutes in a week's time. Similarly, brisk-walking around 100 steps in a minute or more, is considered to be an activity of moderate intensity in adults.
A survey was conducted which included 3,388 participants belonging to the age group of 20 years and above.
According to the researchers restricting non-physical activities and brisk-walking 3,000 steps can aid in maintaining healthy cholesterol levels in the body and also manage other risk factors that affect the health.
Based on an analysis of data from 3,388 participants aged 20 years and older in a US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the researchers believe it is especially helpful if 3,000 of the steps come at a brisk pace, and limiting sedentary time also plays a role in healthy readings for cholesterol and other risk factors.
A link was established between the cardiometabolic risk factors and step-defined physical activity.
"Current evidence does suggest that moderate to vigorous activity and sedentary time have a certain amount of independence from each other in terms of health effects," Schuna Jr stated.
"But if you're getting two or three hours of moderate to vigorous activity every day, even if you're relatively sedentary the rest of the time, it's hard to imagine the sedentary time would completely ameliorate or wipe out the health benefits associated with that level of activity," he concluded.
