In 2025, Daniel S. Rubin and team from the University of Chicago studied 125 older adults (some frail) using a smartphone app to measure walking pace. They tracked steps per minute and physical abilities like balance and strength over 12 weeks.

In 2025, Melody Ding and team from the University of Sydney analyzed 57 studies with over 160,000 people across multiple countries. They used data from wearable devices like pedometers to track daily steps, comparing health outcomes like death rates, heart disease, dementia, and depression against a baseline of 2,000 steps.

A 2025 study analyzing 85 previous studies found that people who stay consistently active have a 30–40% lower risk of early death—especially from heart disease. Even those who start exercising later in life still see a 20–25% drop in mortality risk, showing it’s never too late to change your future.

A 2024 randomized controlled trial at Zhejiang University had participants either sit all day, do one 30‑minute walk, or take 3‑minute walking or squatting breaks every 45 minutes. The walking and squatting groups saw significantly better post-meal blood sugar control, with squats and walks far outperforming sitting and even surpassing the single walk.

A 2025 study led by Columbia University found that people who spent more time sitting after a heart attack or chest pain episode had more than 2.5 times higher risk of dying or having another heart event within a year. But there’s good news: swapping just 30 minutes of sitting for light activity—like walking or tidying up—cut the risk by 50%, and moderate activity cut it by 61%.