admin
One should walk minimum 7000 steps per day: A systematic Review and Meta Analysis
Author:Prof G C Khilnani Chairman, PSRI Institute of Pulmonary, Critical care and Sleep Medicine .Formerly, Professor and Head, Dept of Pulmonary, Critical care and Sleep Med Medicine, AIIMS, N Delhi Journal of American Medical Association(JAMA)(Dec16,2024)
India
healthysoch
New Delhi, February 13, 2025;
Thirty-three research papers including nearly one lac adults (96173) were studied in this meta analysis. Higher daily step counts were associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Compared with fewer than 5000 steps -sectional studies revealed that those with 10 000 or more steps/d were significantly associated with fewer depressive symptoms.
These findings corroborate evidence from cohort studies indicating that adults who increased their activity by 1000 steps/d and accumulated over 7000 steps/d had a 9% and 31% lower risk of developing depression, respectively. An increase of 1000 steps/d was associated with a significant reduction in the incidence of depression in prospective cohort studies.
According to Prof G C Khilnani, In India National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) found the lifetime prevalences of depression is India to be 5.29% and currently 2.65% population is suffering from depression. On an average family spends Rs1500/month towards care of depressive disorder. As per WHO by the year 2030 unipolar depression is going to be second most contributor to Global burden of disease. It is estimated that in India patients seeking help from health care workers could have symptoms related to depression in large proportion of cases.
In India it is a taboo or stigma to visit a psychiatrist, therefore, the true incidence of depression may be much higher than reported. Even when depressive symptoms are below the clinical threshold, it significant affects quality of life.The cardiovascular and other health benefits of physical activity including daily walking can not be over emphasized. Even the overall survival is improved with physical activity.
In India, a large proportion of adults go for daily walks, however, overall lifestyle is sedentary with availability of individual cars/two wheelers. In the present times, with universal possession of smart phones and `watches’ it is easy to have count of steps. Therefore. this study is very important as it is very easy to monitor physical activity by daily step counts. One should walk minimum 7000 steps per day. The life style should be modified to achieve this so as to achieve good physical and mental state.
KEEP WALKING!!!!
HealthySoch
