A study with over 72,000 participants published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine links increased daily steps to a lower risk of death (39%) and cardiovascular disease (21%), even with high sedentary time. First study of its kind, using wrist-worn wearables, to measure if daily steps can counteract the health risks associated with high levels of sedentary behavior.

Dr. Matthew Ahmadi emphasizes that while being sedentary for long periods isn't ideal, increasing daily steps is a beneficial public health strategy. Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis highlights the potential for device-based physical activity research to inform future public health guidelines focusing on step count.

Participants’ median step count was 6222 steps/day, with data adjusted for biases such as health status and lifestyle factors; sedentary time was classified as high for those sedentary 10.5 hours/day or more.