Walk into 2025 with these tips to make your walks more effective, efficient

Walking 10,000 steps per day is known to improve a person's health, but reaching that goal can be difficult for many, considering it's the equivalent of walking around five miles.

With the start of the new year and resolutions to get more steps in 2025, the good news is that research is showing more efficient ways to get similar health benefits to walking 10,000 steps in less time.

Taking the stairs is one way, according to a study of over 450,000 adults.

The study, published in the medical journal Atherosclerosis, found that climbing five flights of stairs per day -- or around 50 steps -- lowered the risk of cardiovascular disease by over 20%.

In addition, the study found that climbing stairs more times throughout the day was generally more beneficial than climbing stairs fewer times throughout the day.

"If you choose one flight of stairs, you go up it two to three times a day," said ABC News medical correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton, an emergency medicine physician, who was not involved in the study. "If you're working in an office, choose a bathroom that's on a different floor."

Sutton noted that in addition to helping to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, climbing stairs can also help reduce the risk of diabetes and can help improve muscle strength.

Focus on short bursts of activity

Another study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, echoed the findings that short bursts of activity can do the body good.

The study found that just 22 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous movement per day -- activities like walking briskly, jogging and cycling -- can help a person live longer, regardless of how much time they spent sedentary.

On the flip side, people who spend most of their day sedentary, either lying or sitting down for more than 13 hours with less than 22 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, had an increased mortality risk of as much as 98% compared to those who were sedentary for 8 hours per day, the study found.

"It's just an example that movement is a true key to longevity," Sutton said of the study, in which he was not involved. "And it only takes a couple of minutes a day just to get that benefit."

Spread activity into small periods of time

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends that adults get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, which is the equivalent of 30 minutes a day, five days per week.

The CDC also recommends that adults get two days of muscle-strengthening activity per week.

And the CDC also says adults do not have to do all 30 minutes of exercise daily at one time, noting, "You can spread your activity out during the week and break it up into smaller chunks of time."

Remember some activity is better than no activity

Experts also remind people that instead of focusing on 10,000 steps per day, just focus on getting as many steps as possible.

In one study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, women who walked around 4,000 steps per day, far less than the 10,000 goal, were more likely to live longer compared to women who took fewer steps.

The study's lead researcher, Harvard professor I-Min Lee, wrote in the study's findings that the established goal of 10,000 steps per day could go all the way back to the marketing of a pedometer sold in Japan in 1965.

While the origin of 10,000 steps remains "unclear," Lee writes in the study, "It likely derives from the trade name of a pedometer sold in 1965 by Yamasa Clock and Instrument Company in Japan called Manpo-kei, which translates to '10 000 steps meter' in Japanese."

The study also notes that high-tech fitness trackers, including smartphones, are usually now programmed for 10,000 steps.

These findings show you can also celebrate if you reach just over 4,000 steps daily, knowing you've done something good to help boost your longevity.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on Oct. 25, 2023.