How many steps should people take every day for good health?

A new study of activity and mortality in older women finds that the total could be lower than many of us expect and that even small increases in steps can be meaningful. The study also side-eyes the validity, utility and origin of the common 10,000-step-a-day exercise goals built into so many of our phones and activity monitors and suggests, instead, that any moving, whether or not it counts as exercise, may help to extend people’s lives.

By now, almost all of us know that walking and other types of physical activity are indispensable to our well-being. Studies show that active people have lower incidences of heart disease, obesity and Type 2 diabetes and usually live longer than people who are sedentary. But many of us remain confused about just how much exercise we need and how intense it should be.

The official exercise guidelines in the United States and many other nations recommend that adults complete at least 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise, such as walking. These guidelines are based, for the most part, on past studies linking the length of time people are active with their subsequent robust or poor health.

But some scientists have begun to suspect that telling people to measure their workouts in minutes may not be ideal.