Run vs. Steps: Study Reveals the Better Choice for Weight Loss

• READ MORE: Experts reveal If you TRULY require taking 10,000 steps each day

Achieving a minimum of 10,000 steps daily has often been regarded as the benchmark for physical activity.

A study indicates that concentrating on the duration of your exercise rather than the number of steps you take might be equally effective for improving health. weight loss , increased lifespan and a decreased chance of developing heart diseases.

Scientists from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston examined four years of data covering approximately 15,000 women who were more than 62 years old.

Every participant used a fitness tracker for monitoring their activity levels and completed health questionnaires annually.

The group discovered that individuals who took between 8,000 and 8,500 steps each day lowered their chance of developing heart disease by 40%, in contrast to those taking approximately 3,000 steps daily.

Furthermore, they discovered that the same level of risk reduction applied to individuals who exercised for 75 minutes daily, indicating that tracking steps might not be necessary.

This study is among multiple recent publications to debunk the 10,000-step rule , according to certain experts, there isn't a single 'magical' figure when it comes to exercising.

Dr. Rikita Hamaya, who led the research and works as a scientist at the Division of Preventative Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, stated: "Some people, particularly those who are younger, might engage in physical activities such as playing tennis, football, going for walks, or running, all of which can conveniently be monitored through step counts."

Nevertheless, for some individuals, it might involve activities like cycling or swimming, where tracking the length of workouts is more straightforward. Therefore, it’s crucial for fitness recommendations to provide various methods to achieve these objectives.

'Everyone expresses movement uniquely, and almost every type of movement contributes positively to our well-being.'

The group enrolled 14,399 women older than 62 who were deemed 'healthy,' which means they had neither heart disease nor cancer. On average, the participants' age was 72 years old.

From 2011 to 2015, every woman was instructed to keep a fitness tracker on her hip continuously, even when sleeping or taking showers.

Every year, the research team distributed surveys covering aspects such as health behaviors including smoking and alcohol consumption, along with measurements of height and weight, details about menopause status, and information regarding both individual and familial medical backgrounds.

These were utilized to assess the participants' likelihood of developing heart disease and facing mortality.

The team continued following up with the women throughout 2022.

Typically, participants were active for about 62 minutes each week doing exercises of moderate to high intensity and accumulated around 5,183 steps daily. As of 2022, nine percent of these individuals had passed away, with an additional four percent having been diagnosed with heart disease.

The women were grouped into percentile categories according to the total minutes they spent exercising or the count of steps they took.

The research revealed that individuals who exercised for approximately 200 minutes per week or managed around 8,000 to 8,500 steps daily had up to a 40% lower chance of developing heart disease and dying prematurely when contrasted with people in the lowest activity group, which included nine to twelve minutes of exercise or roughly 2,800 to 3,000 steps.

The research indicates that patients have the option to select either a step-based approach or a timed goal strategy to reduce their likelihood of mortality or cardiovascular illness, according to the researchers.

These findings bolster the argument for incorporating both time-dependent and steps-based criteria into upcoming physical activity recommendations, giving people the freedom to select and monitor their favored measure of engagement.

Therefore, healthcare providers might advise women aged 60 or above to adopt either time-based or step-based objectives, based on individual preferences, for tracking their physical activity levels.

The study had multiple constraints, primarily due to the participants mostly consisting of white individuals from a higher economic background. Furthermore, since the research was observational, these findings lack confirmation.

The research was released on Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine .