For a longer life, get your steps when you can — even if you don’t reach your daily goal

Physical activity is associated with a lower risk of chronic disease. (Sorrasak Jar Tinyo/Moment RF/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

If some days it’s easier to reach your step goals than others, you may still be protecting yourself against cardiovascular disease and early death, according to a new study.

For women older than 60 in particular, the average daily steps across a week was more strongly associated with a lowered risk of cardiovascular disease and early death than the number of days in a week that step goals were reached, said lead study author Dr. Rikuta Hamaya, instructor in medicine at the Brigham Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Higher levels of physical activity have been associated with a longer, healthier lifespan. As a result, many people aim for higher step counts each day to protect against chronic disease.

But different people follow different patterns of activity. Some are moving pretty regularly throughout the week while others will have more active days than others, the study noted.

Future studies may look into what pattern of physical activity is most helpful in getting enough steps throughout the week, but the recent finding suggests that moving more is helpful for longevity –– however you can disperse your steps, Hamaya said.

How many steps is enough?

There isn’t one magic number people should aim for when it comes to step counts.

Many people who use fitness trackers see 10,000 steps as a sign they are getting enough movement in a day, but that number is not based on good evidence, said Dr. Sean Heffron, assistant professor of medicine at New York University Langone Health and NYU Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in a previous article. He was not involved in the research.

Other studies have suggested aiming for 7,000 steps a day is a good objective if you are looking to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, type 2 diabetes, cancer, depressive symptoms and early death.

But the most recent study published Tuesday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine investigated the effects of different step thresholds.

This latest study looked particularly at older women with an average age of 71. Those who reached 4,000 steps one or two days a week were at a 26% lower risk of death from all causes, and a 27% lower risk of death from a cardiovascular disease, compared with not reaching this threshold on any day of the week.

Getting a third day of at least 4,000 steps was even better, with a 40% lower risk of death from any cause.

“I think this is important, because the 4,000 steps per day for two, three days per week is very attainable, even for older adults,” Hamaya said.

Getting 5,000 to 7,000 steps a day lowered risk even further, according to the research. However, the primary driver of protection against disease and early death was how high the step count averaged across the week.

Moving more

Getting more movement in your day doesn’t have to mean slotting time for a long walk.

If you take the bus or subway, getting off a stop or two early and walking the rest of the way can also help you meet your fitness goals, Heffron said in the previous article.

“It will add a few minutes onto your commute, but every one of those minutes is going to be involved in physical activity,” Heffron said. “That all adds up little by little over the course of a day and week.”

Or maybe walking isn’t your favorite way to get moving. Do things you enjoy, such as dancing, gardening, playing pickleball or hiking with a friend, he added.

Not everyone may be able to use steps as their guide for physical activity –– particularly those who are limited in their capacity to walk.

For seated exercises, try hand cycling or chair exercises with or without weights, Bishnu Pada Das, a certified personal trainer based in Kolkata, India, said in a previous CNN story.

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN