到底每天需要多少步？---并非想象的10000步

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The number of daily steps you need – and it isn’t what you think

Benefits of walking kick in earlier than the recommended 10,000 steps, according to new analysis of 17 studies from around the world

根據對世界各地17項研究的最新分析，步行的好處并非起始于推薦的10000步

Sarah Knapton,

August 2023 • 8:00am

Each increase of 1,000 steps reduces the risk of early death by 15 per cent

If hitting 10,000 steps a day feels unachievable, then do not despair.

Scientists have found that the health benefits of walking kick in far earlier, with anything above 3,967 steps being enough to reduce the risk of an early death from any cause.

Even hitting 2,337 daily steps will start to lower the risk of dying from disease of the heart and blood vessels, researchers found, in the largest study of step count to date.

Adding more steps after that brings additional benefits, with each increase of 1,000 steps reducing the risk of early death by 15 per cent.

每增加1000步，過早死亡的風險就會降低15%

如果每天走10000步感覺無法實現，那麼不要絕望。

科學家們發現，步行對健康的益處要早得多，隻要超過3967步，就足以降低任何原因導緻的過早死亡的風險。

研究人員在迄今為止最大的步數研究中發現，即使每天走2337步，也會開始降低死于心髒和血管疾病的風險。

之後增加更多的步驟會帶來額外的好處，每增加1000步，早逝的風險就會降低15%。

For an average person with a stride length of around 2.1-2.5ft, that would mean heart benefits could kick in at around one mile of walking, and all cause benefits at around two miles.

“Our analysis indicates that as little as 4,000 steps a day are needed to significantly reduce deaths from any cause, and even fewer to reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease,” said Dr Maciej Banach, professor of cardiology at the Medical University of Lodz, Poland, and Johns Hopkins University.

“In a world where we have more and more advanced drugs to target specific conditions such as cardiovascular disease, I believe we should always emphasise that lifestyle changes, including diet and exercise, might be at least as, or even more effective in reducing cardiovascular risk and prolonging lives.”

對于一個步幅約為2.1-2.5英尺的普通人來說，這意味着步行一英裡左右對心髒有益，步行兩英裡左右對所有人都有益。

波蘭羅茲醫科大學和約翰斯·霍普金斯大學的心髒病學教授Maciej Banach博士說：“我們的分析表明，每天隻需要4000步就能顯著減少任何原因造成的死亡，減少心血管疾病造成的死亡則更少。”。

“在一個我們有越來越多的先進藥物來治療心血管疾病等特定疾病的世界裡，我認為我們應該始終強調，改變生活方式，包括飲食和鍛煉，可能至少在降低心血管風險和延長生命方面同樣有效，甚至更有效。”

Many health organisations recommend hitting 10,000 steps a day, although there is little evidence for the target, which is believed to have arisen from a Japanese marketing campaign in the 1960s.

In the run-up to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the company Yamasa sought to capitalise on the sudden interest in fitness, so designed the world’s first wearable step-counter. They called it the Manpo-kei, or “10,000-step meter”.

The company appears to have chosen the figure at random, as a fun goal, but it has stuck ever since.

Some research has found that health effects can plateau after 4,500 steps, while others suggest between 6,000 and 8,000 is the sweet spot for fighting chronic illness like heart problems and cancer.

According to World Health Organisation data, insufficient physical activity is the fourth most frequent cause of death in the world, with 3.2 million deaths a year related to physical inactivity.

The new analysis looked at more than 225,000 people from 17 different studies around the world, with an average age of 64, who were followed for around seven years.

In people aged 60 years or older, the size of the reduction in risk of death was smaller than that seen in people aged younger than 60 years.

Each 500 steps increase was found to bring a 7 per cent reduction in dying from cardiovascular disease.

In the older adults, there was a 42 per cent reduction in risk seen in those who walked between 6,000 and 10,000 steps a day, while there was a 49 per cent reduction in risk in younger adults who walked between 7,000 and 13,000 steps a day.

許多衛生組織建議每天走10000步，盡管幾乎沒有證據表明這一目标，據信這是20世紀60年代日本的一次營銷活動産生的。1964年東京奧運會前夕，山佐公司試圖利用人們對健身的突然興趣，因此設計了世界上第一款可穿戴式計步器。他們稱之為萬步計，即“萬步計”。

該公司似乎是随意選擇了這個數字，作為一個有趣的目标，但從那以後就一直沿用至今。

一些研究發現，在走完4500步之後，對健康的影響會趨于穩定，而其他研究則表明，6000到8000步之間是對抗心髒病和癌症等慢性疾病的最佳點。

根據世界衛生組織的數據，身體活動不足是世界上第四大死亡原因，每年有320萬人因缺乏身體活動而死亡。

新的分析研究了來自世界各地17個不同研究的超過22.5萬人，平均年齡為64歲，被跟蹤了大約7年。

在60歲或60歲以上的人群中，死亡風險降低的幅度小于60歲以下人群。

研究發現，每增加500步，死于心血管疾病的幾率就會降低7%。

在老年人中，每天步行6000到10000步的人患病風險降低了42%，而每天步行7000到13000步的年輕人患病風險降低了49%。

Maximum daily step count

The team found that the health benefits kept growing with additional steps, with no upper limit evident, although the maximum daily step count they recorded was 20,000.

Dr Ibadete Bytyçi from the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo, senior author of the paper, says: “Until now, it’s not been clear what is the optimal number of steps, both in terms of the cut-off points over which we can start to see health benefits, and the upper limit, if any, and the role this plays in people’s health.

“However, I should emphasise that there was limited data available on step counts up to 20,000 a day, and so these results need to be confirmed in larger groups of people.”

Prof Banach added: “Our study confirms that the more you walk, the better.

“We found that this applied to both men and women, irrespective of age, and irrespective of whether you live in a temperate, sub-tropical or sub-polar region of the world, or a region with a mixture of climates.”

The study is published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

每日最大步數

研究小組發現，盡管他們記錄的最大每日步數為2萬步，但随着步數的增加，健康益處不斷增加，沒有明顯的上限。

來自科索沃大學臨床中心的Ibadete Byty博士，這篇論文的高級作者，他說：“到目前為止，我們還不清楚什麼是最佳的步數，無論是從我們可以開始看到健康益處的分界點，還是上限（如果有的話），以及它在人們健康中所起的作用。

“然而，我應該強調的是，對于每天2萬步的步數，可用的數據有限，所以這些結果需要在更大的人群中得到證實。”

巴拿赫教授補充說：“我們的研究證實，你走得越多，效果越好。

“我們發現，這适用于男性和女性，與年齡無關，也與你是否生活在世界上的溫帶、亞熱帶或副極地地區，或者混合氣候的地區無關。”

這項研究發表在歐洲預防心髒病學雜志上。

每增加1000步，過早死亡的風險就會降低15%

如果每天走10000步感覺無法實現，那麼不要絕望。

科學家們發現，步行對健康的益處要早得多，隻要超過3967步，就足以降低任何原因導緻的過早死亡的風險。

研究人員在迄今為止最大的步數研究中發現，即使每天走2337步，也會開始降低死于心髒和血管疾病的風險。

之後增加更多的步驟會帶來額外的好處，每增加1000步，早逝的風險就會降低15%。

The findings, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, showed that anything beyond 2,200 steps a day was enough to make some difference to heart health and mortality.

Those managing 4,000 steps a day cut their risk of early death by 20 per cent.

The best results were among those achieving between 9,000 and 10,000 steps daily, who cut their risk of premature death by 39 per cent. This group also reduced their risk of heart attacks and strokes by 21 per cent, the research found. Gains were achieved regardless of how much remaining time was sedentary.

The seven-year study found that any steps over the reference level of 2,200 daily was associated with lower mortality and lower risk of cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks, regardless of how active the rest of the day was.

The median daily step count for participants was 6,222 steps a day, with 10.6 hours spent sedentary.

Over an average 6.9 years’ follow-up, 1,633 deaths and 6190 cardiovascular events such as heart attacks occurred.

Matt Lambert, health information and promotion manager at the World Cancer Research Fund, said the study showed the “more active we are, the more we can reduce the risk of common diseases such as cancer and heart disease”.

He added: “What is particularly reassuring in this study, is that for those people with busy lives who find the 10,000 steps figure unobtainable, a significant health benefit was seen in those doing between 4,000 and 5,000 steps a day.”

A second study, published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, found even low levels of exercise can help cut the risk of stroke.

‘Stay active for heart health’

Julie Ward, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “We know that daily physical activity is essential to help maintain a healthy lifestyle and reduce your risk of developing heart conditions and your risk of stroke.

“These hopeful new studies show us that every single step towards making it to 10,000 steps a day counts to reducing risk of death and heart disease. Even low levels of activity can reduce the risk of stroke.

“We encourage everyone to stay active for their heart and circulatory health by doing 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week.

“This can be any activity that fits into your lifestyle, such as taking regular walking breaks away from your computer screen, going to the gym, enjoying exercise classes, or even getting off the bus one stop earlier to get more steps in.”

（中文稿由相關軟件翻譯，未完全經過人工校核。）