One longer walk a day is better for your heart than lots of short strolls, especially if you don’t exercise much, according to recent research, reports the BBC.
The authors of the study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, said that walking for at least 15 minutes without stopping is ideal – that’s about 1 500 steps in a row, which gives your heart a good workout.
Many people aim for 10 000 steps a day, but that number came from a Japanese pedometer advertisement, not science. Still, experts agree more steps are generally better for your health.
The study looked at 33 560 adults aged 40-79 in the UK who walked fewer than 8 000 steps a day.
They were grouped by how long their walks were (measured with a step-counter over a week):
less than 5 minutes (43%)
5 to 10 minutes (33.5%)
10 to 15 minutes (15.5%)
15 minutes or more (8%)
The researchers, from the University of Sydney and the Universidad Europea in Spain, tracked their health over eight years.
People who walked in longer stretches had a lower risk of heart problems than those who walked in short bursts.
Even among the least active – those walking under 5 000 steps a day – longer walks made a big difference. Their risk of heart disease and death dropped significantly.
Whether that’s because they were fitter to begin with isn’t fully clear from the study, but the researchers did try to control for this by taking into account factors like whether the person smoked, was obese or had high cholesterol.
Focus on how you walk – not just how much
The researchers say how you walk matters, not just how much. Walking for longer at a time, even if you don’t walk much overall, appears to help your heart.
Simple changes, like setting aside time for a longer walk, could make a big difference, they suggest.
Co-lead researcher Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis said: “We tend to place all the emphasis on the number of steps or the total amount of walking but neglect the crucial role of patterns, for example ‘how’ walking is done.
“This study shows that even people who are very physically inactive can maximise their heart health benefit by tweaking their walking patterns to walk for longer at a time, ideally for at least 10-15 minutes, when possible.”
Professor Kevin McConway, Emeritus Professor of Applied Statistics at the Open University, said while the study shows a link between walking and better heart health, it doesn’t prove that walking directly causes the improvement.
The NHS recommends 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, like brisk walking, ideally spread out evenly across the week.
Older adults over 65 should try to move every day, even if it’s just light activity around the house, the advice says.
Study details
Step Accumulation Patterns and Risk for Cardiovascular Events and Mortality Among Suboptimally Active Adults
Borja del Pozo Cruz, Matthew Ahmadi, Angelo Sabag et al.
Published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on 28 October 2025
Abstract
Background
Although physical activity recommendations increasingly consider daily step counts, it remains unclear whether step accumulation patterns—short versus sustained longer bouts—affect associations with mortality and cardiovascular disease (CVD) among suboptimally active populations.
Objective
To examine associations of step accumulation patterns with all-cause mortality and CVD incidence in persons with 8000 or fewer daily steps.
Design
Prospective cohort study.
Setting
UK Biobank (2013 to 2015).
Participants
33 560 persons (mean age, 62.0 years [SD, 7.7]) who were engaging in 8000 or fewer daily steps and were free of CVD or cancer at baseline.
Intervention
Participants were categorized as having activity bouts of shorter than 5 minutes, 5 to shorter than 10 minutes, 10 to shorter than 15 minutes, or 15 minutes or longer according to the bout in which they accumulated most of their steps. Sedentary participants had fewer than 5000 daily steps, and low-active participants had 5000 to 7999 daily steps.
Measurements
All-cause mortality and CVD incidence. Inverse probability weighting was used to balance covariates across bout duration groups.
Results
Over an average 7.9-year follow-up (266 283 person-years), 735 deaths and 3119 CVD events occurred. Cumulative all-cause mortality at 9.5 years decreased with bout length: For bouts shorter than 5 minutes, it was 4.36% (95% CI, 3.52% to 5.19%); for 5 to shorter than 10 minutes, 1.83% (CI, 1.29% to 2.36%); for 10 to shorter than 15 minutes, 0.84% (CI, 0.13% to 1.53%); and for 15 minutes or longer, 0.80% (CI, 0.00% to 1.89%). Cumulative CVD incidence at 9.5 years followed a similar pattern: For bouts shorter than 5 minutes, it was 13.03% (CI, 11.92% to 14.14%); for 5 to shorter than 10 minutes, 11.09% (CI, 9.88% to 12.29%); for 10 to shorter than 15 minutes, 7.71% (CI, 5.67% to 9.70%); and for 15 minutes or longer, 4.39% (CI, 1.89% to 6.83%).
Limitation
Observational design with potential residual confounding and reverse causation; one-time measurement of activity.
Conclusion
Suboptimally active adults who accumulated most of their daily steps in longer bouts had lower mortality and CVD risk than those who accumulated most daily steps in shorter bouts.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Australian meta-analysis debunks 10 000 daily steps goal
Under 5 000 daily steps still beneficial, say experts
Higher daily step counts strongly associated with lower mortality risk