Forget the 10,000-steps-a-day mantra. New research suggests that older women can slash their risk of dying or developing heart disease by hitting a far more modest target: 4,000 steps, just once or twice a week.
The finding, drawn from a decade-long study of more than 13,000 women, challenges the assumption that exercise benefits require daily commitment. Instead, it appears that total step volume matters more than how those steps are distributed across the week.
“In countries like the United States, advances in technology have made it such that we don’t really move very much, and older individuals are among those least active,” said I-Min Lee, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who led the study. The research tracked women with an average age of 72, none of whom had cardiovascular disease or cancer when the study began.
The Surprising Power of Sporadic Activity
Between 2011 and 2015, participants wore accelerometers for seven consecutive days. Researchers then monitored their health for the next ten years, watching for deaths and new cases of cardiovascular disease. The results defied conventional wisdom about exercise consistency.
Women who logged 4,000 steps on just one or two days per week saw their mortality risk drop by 26% compared to those who never reached that threshold. Their cardiovascular disease risk fell by 27%. Push that to three or more days, and mortality risk plummeted 40%.
But here is where it gets interesting: the health benefits seemed tied to total weekly steps rather than daily patterns. A woman who took 12,000 steps across three days enjoyed similar protection as one who spread the same total across six days. The body, it seems, does not care much about your scheduling habits.
“If we can promote taking at least 4,000 steps once per week in older women, we could reduce mortality and cardiovascular disease risk across the country.”
Lead author Rikuta Hamaya noted the implications for public health guidelines. Current recommendations emphasize daily activity, but this research suggests that even sporadic movement confers substantial benefits. For older adults who struggle with daily exercise routines, that is welcome news.
What 4,000 Steps Actually Looks Like
Picture a leisurely 30-minute walk around your neighborhood, maybe with a stop to chat with a neighbor or admire someone’s garden. That is roughly 4,000 steps. It is not a marathon. It is not even a particularly brisk constitutional. Yet for women in this study, reaching that threshold just twice a week cut their chances of cardiovascular disease by more than a quarter.
The benefits did plateau at higher step counts. Women who routinely logged 7,000 or more steps did not see additional reductions in cardiovascular disease risk, though mortality risk continued to decline modestly. This suggests a sweet spot where returns begin to level off.
The study focused exclusively on older women, mostly white Americans. Whether the findings apply equally to men, younger adults, or more diverse populations remains an open question. Lee’s team plans to investigate even lower thresholds to determine if fewer than 4,000 steps might still provide meaningful health benefits.
The research arrives at a moment when fitness trackers have become ubiquitous, yet many people abandon them after discovering they rarely hit the intimidating 10,000-step target. This study offers a more forgiving standard, one that acknowledges the realities of aging bodies and busy lives. Sometimes, it turns out, just showing up once or twice a week is enough.
British Journal of Sports Medicine: 10.1136/bjsports-2025-110311
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