Do you work at a computer and spend most of your day sitting? You’ve probably heard warnings about how harmful that can be to your health. But Australian researchers now bring some encouraging news: even if you sit more than 10 hours a day, walking around 10,000 steps may be enough to offset the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle.
A study from the University of Sydney tracked more than 72,000 people for about seven years. Results published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine showed that a daily step count can significantly lower the risk of death and cardiovascular disease, no matter how much time a person spends sitting.
The More Steps You Take, the Greater the Protection
Participants averaged 61 years old and wore wrist devices for a week to measure their movement. Researchers found that as daily steps increased, the risk of death and cardiovascular disease decreased. The strongest benefit kicked in at around 9,000 to 10,000 steps per day, cutting death risk by 39 percent and cardiovascular disease risk by 21 percent.
What’s especially striking is that this protective effect held steady regardless of daily sitting hours. Whether someone sat five hours or up to 12, the walking benefits remained the same.
People hit about half the total benefit with just 4,000 to 4,500 steps per day. That’s great news for anyone who thinks 10,000 steps is out of reach.
The First Study of Its Kind
Earlier studies had shown that taking more steps each day lowers death risk, while a sedentary lifestyle raises it. But this was the first to objectively test whether walking can offset damage from excessive sitting.
“This is by no means a get out of jail card for people who are sedentary for excessive periods of time, however, it does hold an important public health message that all movement matters and that people can and should try to offset the health consequences of unavoidable sedentary time by upping their daily step count,” said lead author Dr. Matthew Ahmadi.
The findings drew from UK Biobank data, where researchers tracked participants’ health via hospital and death records. The median steps among participants was 6,222 per day, while the least active managed only about 2,200.
| Steps per day | Reduction in death risk | Reduction in CVD risk* | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,200 | 0% | 0% | Reference baseline |
| 4,000 – 4,500 | ~ 20% | ~ 10% | Point where benefits begin to rise |
| 9,000 – 10,000 | 39% | 21% | Optimal dose for health |
| 10,500+ | Plateau | Plateau | Benefits no longer increase substantially |
*CVD = cardiovascular disease
Sitting More Than 10 Hours a Day Already Does Harm
Researchers grouped participants by daily sitting time, using 10.5 hours as the cutoff for high sedentary time. The average was 10.6 hours a day.
Over nearly seven years of follow-up, 1,633 participants died and 6,190 developed cardiovascular disease. The analysis pinpointed the optimal steps to counter long sitting hours as 9,000 to 10,000 per day.
Researchers adjusted for factors like age, sex, education, smoking, alcohol, diet, and family disease history. The results held up consistently.
Step Counting as a New Standard
Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis from the research team believes step counting could become a standard for measuring physical activity. It’s simple, intuitive, and easy to track with common devices.
The study has limitations, though—as an observational one, it can’t prove direct cause and effect.
For desk-bound workers who can’t cut sitting time, these findings offer a practical fix. Weaving in enough walking could help counter the health downsides of sedentary jobs.
