How Many Steps a Day Should Women Really Take? Experts Weigh In

The health benefits of walking are undeniable. Research has found getting your daily steps in can improve heart health, brain health, and in turn may improve longevity. But the question of how many steps you really need to walk each day to reap those benefits is a mystery to many. Scientists have spent ample time and resources trying to develop an answer to this, but with so much existing research available, it can be difficult to know which number to abide by. The short answer? The amount of steps you walk daily may vary depending on your age, fitness level, and health history.

Where the 10,000 Step Benchmark Came From

For decades, the golden standard for how many steps a person should walk each day has been set at 10,000—but this goal wasn't borne out of a scientific study or consensus. "The origins of the number go back to 1965, when a Japanese company made a device named Manpo-kei, which translates to '10,000 steps meter,'" says Rathna Nuti, MD, a sports medicine physician at DFW Sports Medicine. "It was actually a marketing tool, but since the figure has become so ingrained in our health consciousness, it's often the default setting in fitness trackers."

Previous Walking Benchmarks

Previous research has suggested there is a different standard between how many steps women should walk daily compared to men. A 2019 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that women benefit from taking just 4,400 paces per day, but recent developments suggest this number isn't entirely accurate—and shouldn't be differentiated by gender.

New Walking Benchmarks

According to a 2022 study published in The Lancet, death from a health-related issue was cut in half for both men and women who walk an average of 6,000 to 10,000 steps per day. To obtain their findings, the researchers examined 15 studies that tracked a sum of 45,000 adult participants' average daily step count and their health outcomes over a 3 to 14 year period.

They found that taking more steps per day was associated with a progressively lower risk of all-cause mortality up to a level that varied by age—not gender. For adults aged 60 years and older, the positive effects of walking were observed at 6,000 to 8,000 steps per day, and for adults younger than 60, that sweet spot increased to 8,000 to 10,000 daily steps. Participants who hit these benchmarks were 50 percent less likely to die from a health-related issue than people of the same age that did not meet this threshold.

Surpassing vs. Not Meeting Walking Benchmarks

Once you hit your walking benchmark, life-extending benefits plateau slightly, but there's no downside to surpassing the recommended number of steps for your age group. Less steps, however, could make a difference.

To determine this, researchers split the participants into groups. The subset of people younger than 60 who took the fewest steps averaged 4,849 steps per day. For those over 60, that number was 2,841. Once a person younger than 60 hit 5,000 steps per day and someone older than 60 reached 3,000, they had less of a risk of dying than participants who walked the lowest number of steps daily.

Age Plays a Bigger Role Than Gender

These findings show that when it comes to how many steps you should walk each day, age plays more of a role than gender. According to Tom Holland, exercise physiologist and Bowflex fitness advisor, current research does not support a sex-related basis for recommended daily steps.

"Women of different ages, fitness levels, and health histories should not have a universal daily step benchmark," Holland says. "Instead, a better approach is to determine your current activity level by measuring your current step count over the course of a few days. Then, your goal should be to make gradual improvements over time, adding more movement into your daily routine."

While there is still plenty of debate surrounding the optimal step count for women, it's more important to keep track of how long you're active each day. "Keep less focus on the number of steps taken and more focus on the amount of time spent on activity," says Dr. Nuti. "Your activities don't have to become a chore and can be incorporated in the things that you enjoy doing."