We’ve all heard the recommendation that getting in 10,000 steps a day can do wonders for our health — especially in the fight against heart trouble

The opposite — a sedentary lifestyle — has been linked to everything from heart failure and stroke to dementia, and more.

But let’s face it, 10,000 is a big number.

And fitting that many steps into every day can be a challenge.

Luckily, research is showing that while getting close to 10,000 steps a day might be an admirable goal, it takes far fewer steps to tip the scales in favor of a healthy heart and longevity.

Surprisingly lower amount of steps benefits the heart

Researchers delved into almost seven years’ worth of data from 72,174 volunteers in the UK Biobank. Each participant had worn wrist accelerometers to track their average number of steps and time spent sitting for seven days.

As expected, the results confirmed between 9,000 and 10,000 steps daily to be the perfect amount to shoot for to counteract a highly sedentary lifestyle (sitting for over 10.6 hours per day). In fact, getting this high number of steps in daily lowered heart disease risk by 21 percent and overall mortality risk by almost 40 percent.

However, the researchers also found that regardless of a participant’s sedentary time, 50 percent of those benefits kicked in at around 4,000 to 4,500 daily steps.

And the data showed that getting any amount of steps above 2,200 per day led to lower heart disease and death risk whether a person spent only a little bit of time each day sedentary or they landed in that high sedentary lifestyle group.

This means that if you can’t get to 10,000, you can still experience a significant level of benefits from a much lower level of walking time.

And that’s good news because on average, getting in 2,200 steps will likely take you only about 20 minutes.

More benefits from walking

So if reaching 10,000 steps in a day is just more than you can handle, get in the amount that works for you — but try for somewhere between 2,200 and 4,500, at least — as long as you try to do it every day. But the more, the better if you can work up to it.

If you just need a little help in the “get-up-and-go” department, try dimethylglycine, or DMG for short. Since the 1970’s it’s been used by athletes looking for a performance edge, but the supplement has been found to safely support heart and immune system health, and fight inflammation.

Besides supporting your heart and increasing your chances for a longer lifespan, walking just offers too much to pass up. See what else a little walking every day can do for you:

Sources:

Scientists Reveal The Optimal Number of Daily Steps to Offset Sitting Down – Science Alert