Professor Mark Hamer, Chair in Sport and Exercise Medicine at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health (ISEH), conducted research that investigated the association between daily step count and biomarkers for heart disease, with the study being published in the Wiley Online Library.
This research was conducted as several step-based daily targets have been widely circulated and communicated to the general public (e.g, 10,000 per day), but there is a lack of research and analysis performed of population-based evidence to support such guidance. To investigate this, Prof. Mark Hamer and fellow researchers collected daily step counts in 4,665 middle aged adults from the UK via a wearable device. They measured various risk markers from blood, these being; glycated haemoglobin, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, C-reactive protein.
Their findings revealed that there were associations between daily step count and all biomarkers and noting that the higher the step count, the more favourable (healthy) the blood profile. Optimal was achieved at around 10,000 steps a day, after which no further measurable benefits were seen.
Professor Mark Hamer said: “Step count targets can be communicated in a way that is easily understood and memorised for the general public. Our findings suggest linear, beneficial associations between step-count and cardiovascular disease risk markers up to around 10,000 steps a day in middle aged adults.”
Read the published paper in the Wiley Online Library, here.