Step count or total exercise time - which is best to keep older women healthy?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-05-21 01:00

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Older women could focus on their total step count or the amount of time they spend exercising and have similar results for their health, according to international research. The team collected step count and moderate to vigorous exercise data for over 14,000 women aged 62 or older, and monitored their health over an average of nine years. They say both higher step counts and higher overall time spent exercising were both associated with a lower risk of dying of any cause and heart problems, and after adjusting for potential influencing factors, the reduced risk was about the same for either exercise measure. The team says this means both step counts and overall exercise time should be included in exercise guidelines, so women can use whatever works best for them.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Internal Medicine

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Harvard Medical School, USA

Funder: This research was supported in part by grants CA154647, CA047988, CA182913, HL043851, HL080467, and HL09935 from the National Institutes of Health (forWomen’s Health Study); by grant NIH 5R01CA227122 from National Cancer Institute, Office of the Director, Office of Disease Prevention, and Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (Dr Evenson); and by the extramural research program at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

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