Can't do 10,000 steps a day?

2,000 also have a preventive effect against cancer, according to researchers

Created: 09/30/2022, 20:30

By: Juliane Gutmann

Walking 10,000 steps a day: the goal of many people.

A study shows that the risk of cancer and heart disease also decreases with fewer steps.

In the evening on the sofa, the pedometer on the fitness watch only shows 3,000 steps?

For many a motivator to do another round outside.

Because the rule of thumb that 10,000 steps a day is very healthy persists.

In fact, the more exercise, the better – as long as your health allows it.

Anyone who has had a corona disease should not start training again immediately.

But what about the positive effect of 10,000 steps a day?

"Physical activity lowers the risk of cancer, regardless of the fact that a healthy body weight can be maintained through a lot of exercise," the German Cancer Society informs on its website.

“Practice as few activities as possible while sitting,” it continues.

Exercise therefore has a negative effect on the development of malignant tumors because it supports so-called tumor suppressor genes, which suppress the growth of cancer cells.

This effect has been proven for a number of cancers such as breast and colon cancer.

Anyone who has a dog often walks more than 10,000 steps a day.

© Marcus Beckert/Imago

The heart also benefits from exercise.

According to the website of the German Heart Foundation, just a brisk ten-minute walk every day reduces the personal risk of cardiovascular disease by 20 percent.

Cancer survey

Exercise lowers risk of premature death

A new Danish study confirms that even little exercise has a positive effect on the risk of cancer and heart disease.

For their analysis, researchers led by Borja del Pozo Cruz from the Syddansk Universitet in Odense compared the data from 78,500 study participants in the UK database, which had collected blood samples and data on half a million Britons since 2006, with their number of steps.

The subjects wore a pedometer for seven days.

In the following seven years, it was recorded, among other things, which participants died of cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

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The result: The risk of premature death fell by eight to eleven percent per 2,000 steps per day, as the

t quotes the study.

With 10,000 steps, the risk drops by as much as 40 to 55 percent.

According to the researchers, there was no clear benefit in those subjects who walked more than 10,000 steps per day.

However, they point out that only a few of the study participants walked more than 10,000 steps.