Active Aging Week: Fitness Facts

How many steps are enough?

by Catrine Tudor-Locke, P.h.D.

How many steps are enough? This is always the burning question. Simply stated, more is better. Relatively healthy middle-aged adults take 7,000-13,000 steps a day. (This amount is lower for women than men.) Healthy older adults take 6,000-7,000 steps. Adults living with disabilities and chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and arthritis, take 3,500-5,500 steps a day.

A realistic approach is to increase your steps per day by an amount that equals an extra 30 minutes of walking, over and above what you regularly do. For example, depending on walking speed, people take 800-1,200 steps in 10 minutes. So, an extra 30 minutes of walking would mean adding adding 2,400-3,600 steps a day. People who are not used to exercising and those starting at less than 5,000 steps per day should gradually increase their walking to reach these levels. Once people are more active, they will gain extra benefits from walking faster and adding more steps to their day.

SOURCE: Active Living Coalition for Older Adults