(CNN) -- If you're committed to achieving a set number of steps daily, you may be overlooking another important element in the equation: walking speed.
A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine on Tuesday showed that walking at a faster pace, even with a smaller number of steps, may be associated with a lower risk of premature death to a similar degree as walking a greater number of steps at a slower pace.
Study co-author and Professor of Physical Activity, Lifestyle and Population Health at Monash University in Melbourne, Emmanuel Stamatakis, said the goal of walking 10,000 steps per day was not based on specific scientific evidence, but rather emerged as part of a campaign to promote pedometers in Japan during the 1960s.
10 thousand steps...the only standard?
For some people, achieving 10,000 steps a day may seem daunting, which may discourage them from starting exercise.
"For a 65-year-old with a knee problem, a caregiver who doesn't have regular time, or a shift worker, this number may seem less like a goal and more like a reason to give up," Stamatakis told CNN.
He added: "A person who walks 4,000 steps a day, but at a fast pace, is doing something useful, and a person who cannot walk quickly can benefit greatly from increasing the number of his steps at a slower pace."
To study how the number of steps interacts with walking speed, researchers analyzed movement data from more than 100,000 middle-aged people within the British Biobank, a long-term study that included participants from England, Scotland and Wales. Under it, participants wore an activity tracking device for seven consecutive days between 2013 and 2015, which allowed researchers to measure their daily step count and walking speed.
The authors of the new study found that increasing the number of steps and walking at a faster pace were associated with a lower risk of death, suggesting that the benefits of walking may not be related to achieving a specific number, but rather to finding a combination of the number of steps and walking speed that works for each person.
Number of steps versus walking speed
In the new study, scientists classified daily step counts into four categories:
The researchers also calculated the “maximum 30-minute step rate,” meaning the highest continuous step frequency during the most active 30 minutes of the day.
The study authors followed participants for about eight years, monitoring deaths from any cause, as well as deaths from cardiovascular disease.
One of the clearest differences appeared among people who walked less than 5,000 steps per day. Their risk of death was significantly lower if their maximum step rate reached a minimum of 80 steps per minute, which is roughly the same as the risk of death in people who walked between 5,000 and 7,500 steps per day with a slower pace of about 60 steps per minute.
The lowest risk of premature death was associated with walking between 7,500 and 10,000 steps per day, regardless of walking speed. Among people who walked less than 7,500 steps per day, maintaining a faster pace for a minimum of 30 minutes per day was associated with a gradual decrease in the risk of death from any cause.
In other words, the study concluded that walking at a brisk pace for 30 minutes a day may be the ideal option for sedentary adults to reduce the risk of early death.
“There is no one pace that suits everyone,” Stamatakis said, “because the intensity of walking always depends on the person’s level of fitness, age, height and weight. A pace that seems very comfortable for a fit person in their 40s may represent the maximum effort for a 70-year-old who is not fit.”
He added: "As the study suggests, there is more than one way to reduce the risk of death, and the goal should fit the lifestyle you already live."
For those who want to know the pace that is most appropriate for them, Stamatakis said that paying attention to how the body feels while walking may be more beneficial than trying to reach a specific number. When you walk at a fast pace, your breathing should become noticeably heavier and you should feel your body temperature rise, with the ability to continue talking in short sentences.
He added that those who prefer to use a digital scale can count their steps in 15 seconds and then multiply the number by 4 to get an estimate of their step rate. A rate of about 100 steps per minute is usually used as a rough indicator of moderate walking in adults, but this number may be higher or lower depending on the person.
"If time is the constraint, then increasing walking speed is the most time-efficient option, and this is perhaps the most important practical finding in the study," Stamatakis said.
He pointed out that anyone who has risk factors for cardiovascular disease or who has spent years without engaging in physical activity should gradually increase the pace of walking, and should consult his doctor first before raising the level of exercise intensity.
Proper walking routine
Because the study was observational, it cannot definitively determine whether increasing walking speed actually reduced participants' risk of death, or whether people who were healthier and fitter than they were were more likely to walk faster, according to Daniel Lieberman, a professor of biological sciences at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, who was not involved in the new study.
“However, the study results make sense,” he told CNN, “because the dose of exercise actually depends on three factors: the amount of activity, the intensity, and the frequency. They are all important. It is good to increase the number of steps, but walking at a fast pace may also be beneficial. And of course, it is good to do this regularly.”
For those who want to add more brisk walking to their routine, Lieberman recommends starting gradually rather than trying to make a big change overnight.
