AT 43, HELEN SKELTON SAYS ONE TWEAK TO HER DAILY WALK HAS TRANSFORMED HER SLEEP AND MOOD – HERE’S HOW

By her own admission, TV presenter Helen Skelton is ‘obsessed with steps’.

‘My friends tease me,’ she says, ‘but I’ve always been like that… I sleep better, I eat better, I’m a nicer person when I’ve been outdoors.’

The benefits of walking are myriad, especially when done outdoors. Barely a week goes by without a fresh study attesting to the mental or physical health benefits of a brisk stroll. But one question remains vexing: many steps do you need to do to harness these benefits?

The 10,000 step myth

It turns out the much mythologised 10,000-steps-a-day target is not ancient wisdom. And it’s not even modern wisdom. It is, in fact, an excellent bit of 1960s marketing. Dr Paul Kelly, lecturer in physical activity for health at the University of Edinburgh, explains that the 10,000-steps-a-day campaign was created by a Japanese pedometer company during the build-up to the 1964 Olympics to encourage people to get fitter. Why 10,000? The Japanese symbol for 10,000 resembles a person walking. Dr Kelly says, ‘There was no scientific basis for the specific goal. However, earlier studies, including the 1953 Bus Conductor Study, which compared bus conductors with sedentary drivers, had already shown that people who walked more had better heart health.’

In other words, it’s a total myth. The benefits of walking start from a far more modest target.

2,000 steps

An analysis in the European Journal Of Preventive Cardiology looked at 17 studies involving more than 200,000 people. It found that as few as 2,337 steps a day began to lower the risk of dying from heart and circulatory diseases. At around 3,867 steps, the risk of dying from any cause fell, too, and every additional 1,000 brought a further 15% reduction.

3,000 steps

A University of Alabama study reported that, for older adults with an average age of 78, heart-health benefits began at just 3,000 steps. Each additional 500 steps lowered cardiovascular risk by 14%. Making it to 4,500 steps reduced the risk of heart attack or stroke by 77% compared with 2,000 steps.

4,000 steps

A Harvard study of more than 13,000 women over 62 found that reaching 4,000 steps on just one or two days a week was linked with a 26% lower risk of death and a 27% lower risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke, compared with those who never reached that level. Hitting 4,000 steps on three or more days cuts the risk of early death by 40%.

5,000 steps

The science on dementia now adds even more weight to the idea that small amounts of movement matter. A nine-year study from Harvard Medical School, published in Nature Medicine, followed almost 300 older adults with early brain signs of Alzheimer’s. Walking even 3,000 steps a day slowed cognitive decline in those with higher levels of amyloid beta, the protein linked to Alzheimer’s. But more isn’t always better. There was an optimal range of 5,000 to 7,500 before the effect levelled off.

7,000 steps

A study published in December collated research from 33 different studies, involving around 100,000 people. It found that those taking 7,000 steps per day have a 31% lower risk of depression.

8,500 steps

A new international analysis, published in May, suggests that 8,500 steps a day could be the magic number for those trying to keep weight off after dieting. People who boosted their daily steps to that level during a weight-loss program, and maintained that step count afterwards, were far more successful at sustaining a health weight, researchers found.

2026-08-04T10:37:27Z