According to a new study published in the "British Journal of Sports Medicine," elderly women taking 4,000 steps a day just one or two days a week can reduce their risk of death and cardiovascular diseases.
Lent.az reports that the research was conducted in the USA and followed 13,547 women (average age 71) for approximately 11 years. As a result, it was found that women who took this number of steps one or two days a week had a 26 percent lower risk of death from all causes and a 27 percent lower risk of death from cardiovascular diseases. If women took this many steps at least three days a week, the overall risk of death decreased by up to 40 percent.
The researchers stated that the total number of steps is a key factor for health rather than the frequency of walking. In other words, the total volume is important even if the steps are not "distributed" across days. Experts believe these results provide additional evidence for including step count in future physical activity guidelines. Elderly people are not required to walk a lot every day to stay healthy. The main point is to increase the total number of steps.
