A large population-based study examined whether the way people accumulate their daily steps affects their long-term health, regardless of how many total steps they take. The research focused on adults who were not highly active, defined as walking fewer than 8,000 steps per day (<8,000 steps per day). The findings showed a clear pattern: people who walked in longer, uninterrupted sessions faced lower risks of death from any cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared with those whose steps were spread out in short bursts. The study was published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The analysis included 33,560 adults from the UK Biobank who averaged 8000 or fewer daily steps. Researchers grouped participants based on how long their typical walking sessions lasted. These categories included bouts shorter than 5 minutes, 5 to shorter than 10 minutes, 10 to shorter than 15 minutes, and 15 minutes or longer.

Participants walked a median of 5,165 steps per day. Nearly half of them, 42.9%, accumulated most of their steps in sessions lasting under 5 minutes. Another 33.5% primarily walked in 5- to 10-minute bouts, while 15.5% did most of their walking in 10- to 15-minute sessions. Only 8.0% regularly walked in sessions lasting at least 15 minutes.

Mortality Risk Drops as Walking Sessions Get Longer

Over a follow-up period of 9.5 years, the risk of death decreased steadily as walking sessions became longer. Participants who took most of their steps in bouts shorter than 5 minutes had an all-cause mortality risk of 4.36% (95% CI, 3.52% to 5.19%). That risk dropped to 1.83% (CI, 1.29% to 2.36%) among those walking in 5- to 10-minute bouts.

Even lower risks were seen in people who walked longer at a time. Those whose steps mainly came from 10- to 15-minute sessions had a mortality risk of 0.84% (CI, 0.13% to 1.53%), while participants who regularly walked for 15 minutes or more at a stretch had a risk of 0.80% (CI, 0.00% to 1.89%).

Heart Disease Risk Shows an Even Stronger Pattern

The connection between walking patterns and cardiovascular disease was even more pronounced. After 9.5 years, participants who mostly walked in sessions shorter than 5 minutes had a cumulative CVD risk of 13.03% (CI, 11.92% to 14.14%). Those who walked in 5- to 10-minute bouts had a lower risk of 11.09% (CI, 9.88% to 12.29%).

Risk continued to decline with longer walking sessions. Participants in the 10- to 15-minute group had a CVD risk of 7.71% (CI, 5.67% to 9.70%), while those walking in bouts of 15 minutes or longer had the lowest risk at 4.39% (CI, 1.89% to 6.83%).

Bigger Benefits for the Most Sedentary Adults

Among participants who were especially inactive, defined as taking fewer than 5,000 steps per day (<5,000 steps per day), the advantages of longer walking sessions were even more noticeable. In this group, walking for longer periods at a time was strongly associated with lower risks of both death and cardiovascular disease.