--- title: Taking Just 4,000 Steps a Day Improves Your Health description: New research finds that taking just 4,000 steps a day—not the 10,000 commonly believed—significantly reduces the risk of premature death. canonical: https://time.com/6302650/walking-4000-steps-improves-health/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-08-08T23:05:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:51:00.545Z article:section: Health og:title: Taking 4,000 Steps a Day Improves Your Health og:description: More steps are better, but you don't need 10,000 a day to see health benefits. og:url: https://time.com/6302650/walking-4000-steps-improves-health/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt521cda61867be78b/698a3f4edb2987b3272693a8/people-walking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2121 og:image:height: 1193 og:image:alt: People walking on a road og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Taking 4,000 Steps a Day Improves Your Health twitter:description: More steps are better, but you don't need 10,000 a day to see health benefits. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt521cda61867be78b/698a3f4edb2987b3272693a8/people-walking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Forget 10,000 Steps. Here's How Much Science Says You Actually Need to Walk > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Heat Makes Outdoor Work Dangerous [Watch (HLS stream): Heat Makes Outdoor Work Dangerous](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LmebsmXB.m3u8) (7:17)  _Published 2023-08-02. As scorching temperatures broke new records for the planet this summer, outdoor workers are increasingly vulnerable. In the U.S., there is no federal protections for heat and labor._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Aug 8, 2023 11:05 PM UTC  People walking about on a hot summers day. People walking about on a hot summers day. Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Aug 8, 2023 11:05 PM UTC Walking just 4,000 steps per day—less than half of the [10,000 steps often recommended](https://time.com/6246812/how-to-walk-10000-steps-a-day/) for maintaining an active lifestyle—may be enough to help extend your life, according to [a new research review](https://academic.oup.com/eurjpc/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/eurjpc/zwad229) published in the _European Journal of Preventive Cardiology_. That takeaway shouldn’t dissuade anyone from taking a longer stroll; the researchers found that more movement is better, with each additional 1,000 steps per day associated with a roughly 15% lower risk of premature death. But it joins a growing body of research that suggests [workouts don’t need to be all that grueling or lengthy](https://time.com/6242876/short-workouts-health-benefits/) to improve your health. Everything from [walking to](https://time.com/5438387/exercise-guidelines-benefits/)[ ](https://time.com/5438387/exercise-guidelines-benefits/)[housework to dancing can contribute to well-being](https://time.com/5438387/exercise-guidelines-benefits/), studies have shown. To reach the new findings, a team of researchers analyzed 17 previously published papers on walking and health, as steps taken per day is a commonly studied measure of physical activity. Cumulatively, those studies included more than 225,000 adults from multiple countries with an average age of 64, some of whom were in generally good health and some of whom had risk factors for cardiovascular disease. On average, they were tracked for seven years. **_Read More:_**[_9 Ways to Squeeze in More Steps Each Day_](https://time.com/6246812/how-to-walk-10000-steps-a-day/) After analyzing the data from those studies, the researchers determined that mortality risk progressively declines as people walk more. They didn’t find a point at which additional activity stops appearing beneficial, all the way up to 20,000 steps per day. But, [in keeping with previous research](https://time.com/5597557/do-you-need-10000-steps-a-day/), they also concluded that it doesn’t take a massive number of daily steps to improve health. The risk of dying from any cause began to significantly decline once study participants passed a threshold of around 4,000 steps per day (the equivalent of roughly two miles). The threshold was even lower—around 2,500 steps per day—when looking specifically at the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. These trends stayed fairly constant across different geographic locations, as well as when comparing men and women, the researchers found. There were, however, some differences among people of different ages. Adults older than 60 saw about a 42% drop in mortality risk when they walked between 6,000 and 10,000 steps per day, while those younger than 60 saw a roughly 49% reduction when they walked between 7,000 and 13,000 steps per day. There are some caveats to the findings. For one, observational research of this nature can uncover patterns, but it can’t definitively prove cause and effect. The researchers also weren’t able to fully account for participants’ socioeconomic statuses or overall lifestyles, which means daily steps were just one piece of a larger puzzle. It’s possible, for example, that the people who were most active also had a number of other [healthy habits that could contribute to a longer lifespan](https://time.com/5258645/life-expectancy-live-decade-longer/). Nonetheless, the new research joins plenty of other studies—and U.S. [federal physical activity guidelines](https://time.com/5450405/physical-activity-guidelines-2018/)—in the same conclusion: more movement is almost always better, but a small amount is also better than nothing. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6302650/walking-4000-steps-improves-health/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6302650/walking-4000-steps-improves-health/"},"headline":"Forget 10,000 Steps. 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