{"id":10934,"date":"2026-01-14T11:25:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T12:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/?p=10934"},"modified":"2026-01-14T21:33:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T21:33:26","slug":"how-long-you-need-to-walk-for-every-day-to-reduce-risk-of-early-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/14\/how-long-you-need-to-walk-for-every-day-to-reduce-risk-of-early-death\/","title":{"rendered":"How long you need to walk for every day to \u2018reduce risk of early death\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"Close-up\t<\/div>
Just a short, brisk walk can make a ‘meaningful’ difference (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For 2026, many of us likely set resolutions to improve our health<\/a> and fitness levels.<\/p>\n

But before you go wild joining every workout class <\/a>you can squeeze into your schedule, it might interest you to know there\u2019s an easy and completely free way to reduce your risk of premature death.<\/p>\n

A new study, led by a team of scientists from the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, has claimed that taking a short walk<\/a> every day could actually help you live longer, reducing your risk of prematurely dying before the age of 75. <\/p>\n

The findings, published in The Lancet<\/a>, show that making \u2018small and realistic\u2019 increases in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MPVA) could help prevent a \u2018meaningful\u2019 proportion of premature deaths.<\/a> <\/p>\n

For those unaware, MPVA is any exercise that significantly raises your heart rate and breathing – this can include brisk walking, riding a bike, water aerobics, dancing, rollerblading, and tennis.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"London\t<\/div>
Experts recommend walking for at least five or 10 minutes a day (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How long you need to walk for each day, according to the research<\/h2>\n

The study estimates that walking for just five minutes per day<\/strong> could help reduce the risk of early death by 10%<\/strong> for most of the general population, while walking for 10 minutes could cut the risk by 15%.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But this figure is different for the \u2018least active\u2019 people among us, as for them, a five-minute walk could reduce the risk by just 6%. <\/p>\n

If you aren\u2019t able to get out and about for a brisk walk, simply getting up and moving about your home, doing housework, for instance, could also make a difference.<\/p>\n

The findings also claimed that reducing the amount of time you are sedentary (sitting and inactive) by 30 minutes each day could help to prevent around 4.5% of deaths. <\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Young\t<\/div>
Reducing sedentary time by 30 minutes a day is beneficial (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The study analysed data from 135,000 people (predominantly aged in their 50s and 60s) from the UK, Norway<\/a>, the US<\/a>, and Sweden<\/a>. Participants used pedometers to keep track of activity and sedentary levels throughout. <\/p>\n

Death rates over an eight-year period were also examined in order to produce the findings, and the proportions of deaths prevented were estimated based on changes seen in the least active participants and all other participants. <\/p>\n

Dr Brendon Stubbs, of King\u2019s College London, told The Times<\/a> that this study \u2018offers hope\u2019 for those who don\u2019t do much exercise.<\/p>\n

\u2018This finding serves as an inspiring public health message: even small daily tweaks to activity levels can make a meaningful difference, for instance, a quick brisk walk, climbing a few extra flights of stairs, or playing energetically with the grandkids.\u2019<\/p>\n

However, he added that the study was \u2018observational,\u2019 so it is unable to prove causation, and randomised controlled trials would be needed to confirm if these lifestyle changes directly reduce deaths.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
POLL<\/div>\n
Poll<\/title><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"metro-poll__title\">Do you get outside for a walk every day?<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"metro-poll__list\">\n<li data-option=\"option1\" class=\"metro-poll__option\">\n<div class=\"metro-poll__score-bar-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-poll__content\">\n<div class=\"metro-poll__text\">Yes<span class=\"metro-poll__check-icon\"><title>Check<\/title><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-poll__score\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-option=\"option2\" class=\"metro-poll__option\">\n<div class=\"metro-poll__score-bar-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-poll__content\">\n<div class=\"metro-poll__text\">No<span class=\"metro-poll__check-icon\"><title>Check<\/title><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-poll__score\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>This comes after a longevity doctor spoke to Metro about <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/09\/10\/longevity-doctor-reveals-7-simple-ways-add-years-life-24117787\/\">\u2018simple\u2019 ways to add years to your life.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dr Mohammed Enayat, a former GP who founded HUM2N, recommends starting your day barefoot in nature in order to regulate your body\u2019s circadian rhythm.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We\u2019re generally too much in the fight or flight response or the sympathetic nervous system, so everything that we can do to help improve our <em>para<\/em>sympathetic nervous system, which is our healing response, is going to help us for the long term,\u2019 he explains.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Too much of the stress response causes that causes metabolic issues, <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/diabetes\/\"><strong>diabetes<\/strong><\/a>, obesity, inflammation, cardiovascular disease and can even increase <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/cancer\/\"><strong>cancer<\/strong><\/a> risk as well.\u2019 He also advised <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2026\/01\/14\/tried-hack-meant-revolutionise-sleep-a-shame-annoying-25905738\/\">optimising your sleep<\/a>, and getting regular health checks such as routine NHS blood tests, faecal and urine screenings, cervical smear tests, breast screening and the 40-year-old checkup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Do you have a story to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Get in touch by emailing <a href=\"mailto:MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk\">MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\"><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-comments\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"#metro-comments-container\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span><\/p>\n<p><title>Comment now<\/title><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-preferred-source\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/metro.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/a><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just a short, brisk walk can make a ‘meaningful’ difference (Picture: Getty Images) For 2026, many of us likely set resolutions to improve our health and fitness levels. But before you go wild joining every workout class you can squeeze into your schedule, it might interest you to know there\u2019s an easy and completely free […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10934"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10934"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10940,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10934\/revisions\/10940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}