It’s become a wellness mantra: Get your steps in. Ideally, 10,000 every day.

But how many steps do you really need to reap the health benefits? And what exactly does walking do for your body?

New research indicates the magic number is about 7,000 daily steps. Reaching that mark is linked to a significantly lower risk of health issues as wide-ranging as dementia, heart disease, depression, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.

That impact ranged from a 6 per cent reduction in cancer risk to a 38 per cent decline for dementia, according to the study, which was published in The Lancet Public Health journal on Thursday.

Getting 7,000 steps per day was also tied to a 28 per cent lower risk of falls, which can be fatal for older adults.

The findings “debunk the myth that 10,000 steps per day should be the target for optimal health,” Dr Daniel Bailey, a reader in sedentary behaviour and health at Brunel University of London, who was not involved with the study, said in a statement.

The study’s findings will come as no surprise to those familiar with walking’s benefits for heart health. Walking briskly increases the heart rate, improves circulation, lowers blood pressure, and can help people lose weight.

But the new analysis is the first to explore how getting your steps in can curb the risk of multiple health issues, according to the international research team.

The benefits of walking

The researchers tracked data from more than 160,000 people across 31 studies for the analysis.

They found that people with even modest step counts – around 4,000 per day – had better health outcomes than people with very sedentary lives, getting around 2,000 steps per day.

The more people walked, the better they fared if they had a condition such as heart disease. But for other health outcomes, the benefits seemed to taper off after about 7,000 steps per day, the study found.

“The real-world implications are that people can get health benefits just from small increases in physical activity, such as doing an extra 1,000 steps per day,” Bailey said.

The report has some limitations, notably that the findings on cancer and dementia are less certain because the data came from only a few studies. Additionally, some of the included studies did not fully take into account other factors that could influence health outcomes, such as age or frailty.

Even so, the researchers said the findings could be encouraging for people who are not very active, given 7,000 daily steps may be a more realistic goal than the unofficial target of 10,000 steps.

Steven Harridge, a professor of human and applied physiology at King’s College London who was not involved with the study, said in a statement that step counts do not shed much light on the intensity of people’s physical activity, which is also important for wellbeing.

Health experts recommend that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise – such as brisk walking or riding a bike – per week, or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise once per week.

But Harridge welcomed the findings nonetheless.

“This study adds to the body of knowledge that shows physical activity is vitally important for health, and anything that encourages people to be more active is a good thing for both physical and mental health,” Harridge said.