Walking is an established anti-depressive activity, and new research reveals how many steps you need to take each day to see a mood boost

Study: Taking This Many Steps Each Day Can Improve Mental Health

• A new study found that walking as few as 5,000 steps per day can reduce symptoms of depression.
• Depression risk further decreased for every additional 1,000 steps, with the lowest risk at 7,000 to 10,000 daily steps.
• If you’d like to walk more, experts recommend starting with a small, achievable goal and making walks more interesting by going with friends or in nature.

Want to improve your mood? Go for a walk. 

That’s the takeaway of new research reviewing more than 30 published observational studies into step count and depressive symptoms. The meta-analysis, published in JAMA Network Open, found a link between a total daily step count of just 5,000 and reduced symptoms in people without clinical depression. 

The more steps people took (up to 10,000), the lower their risk of depression. 

“This means there is an association between number of steps and depression symptoms,” Natalie Dattilo-Ryan, PhD, a clinical psychologist and instructor at Harvard Medical School and owner of Priority Wellness Therapy, told Health.

In conducting this study, the research team wanted to consolidate existing research on step count and depression risk. They hope their results will inform real-world public health strategies to increase physical activity levels and prevent depression.

“The objective measurement of daily steps may represent an inclusive and comprehensive approach to public health that has the potential to prevent depression,” the authors wrote.

How Many Steps a Day Benefits Your Health?

Analyzing the Link Between Step Count and Depression Risk

Walking has been extensively studied as an anti-depressive activity. A July 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, for example, found that walking could effectively reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety and could serve as an evidence-based intervention for these conditions.  

However, the newly published study is among the first to analyze step count’s mental health effects on a mass scale. The research team investigated the results of 33 observational studies involving 96,173 adults ages 18 to 91, which involved objective measurements of daily step counts and depression data.

From this extensive pool of information, the researchers pinpointed 5,000 steps per day as the number that began to move the needle on depressive symptoms.

Yet even small increases in step count yielded improvements in mental health. For every 1,000-step daily increase, subjects experienced a 9% average reduction in developing depression over time.

“The results of our study suggest that an increased number of daily steps, even at modest levels, was associated with a reduction in depressive symptoms,” study author Bruno Bizzozero-Peroni, PhD, MPH, of the Health and Social Research Center at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, told Health.

Meanwhile, taking 7,000 to 10,000 steps per day reduced depression risk even further. Compared to those with a sedentary lifestyle of under 5,000 steps per day, people who exceeded 7,000 daily steps had a 31% decreased risk of depression.   

There was a plateau at around 10,000 steps, however. “Our synthesis of the available evidence revealed no additional benefits in reducing depressive symptoms beyond 10,000 steps per day, compared to a daily step count of between 7,500 and 9,999,” Bizzozero-Peroni said. 

However, it’s important to note that the findings are correlational, not causal, Dattilo-Ryan pointed out.

“We still can’t say that walking a certain number of steps per day itself is the cause for a reduction in symptoms,” she said. “It’s possible that people who walk 5,000-10,000 steps per day also practice healthier eating and sleeping habits, maintain healthy social connections, manage stress better, etc.” 

Why a Higher Step Count Could Lower Depression Risk 

It’s well established that exercise and mental health go hand in hand. “All physical activity can reduce or alleviate depressive symptoms for some individuals,” Teresa Behrend Fletcher, PhD, program director of Sport & Human Performance at Adler University, told Health in an email. But walking may have some distinct advantages for alleviating or preventing depression. 

According to Milica McDowell, DPT, a certified exercise physiologist and VP of Operations at Gait Happens, the rhythmic nature of walking could add to its mood-boosting potential.

“Rhythmic movements are often helpful to get individuals closer to a flow state,” she said. “Compared to stressful sports like pickleball or CrossFit that require high levels of skill, precision, and attention, you can get ‘lost’ in a walk, and this can help reduce fixations on problems or negative head spaces.”

Another possibility behind walking’s mood enhancement is the muscle groups it involves.

“Muscle contractions of your large muscle groups (like glutes, hamstrings, low back, and core) boost overall blood flow and tissue temperatures, which can enhance feelings of well-being,” McDowell said. “Using large muscle groups also has an effect on your testosterone and arousal levels, which tend to bring people’s mental state up, not down.”

3 Expert-Approved Walking Workouts

Strategies For Boosting Steps

If you’re looking to increase your step count—and potentially decrease feeling blue—there are multiple ways to do so. 

Behrend Fletcher recommends starting small, both with the frequency of your walks and the amount of steps you take.

“Set expectations at a very achievable level (such as ‘I will add a walk one to two days a week,’ versus ‘I will walk seven days a week'),” Behrend Fletcher advised. “Even walking another 500 to 1,000 steps per day can make a marked difference in your health and building a walking habit.” 

Datillo-Ryan, meanwhile, encourages making your walking more enjoyable and interesting by combining it with socializing, time in nature, or mental tests. “Challenge yourself to see how many new things you can spot, how fast you can do your circuit, or how mindful you can be,” she suggested. 

Edited by Health with a background in health, science, and investigative reporting. Previously, she wrote full time about parenting issues for the app Parent Lab. Before that, she worked as a reporter for National Geographic covering wildlife crime and exploitation." tabindex="0" data-inline-tooltip="true"> Jani Hall Jani Hall Jani Hall is a news editor for Health with a background in health, science, and investigative reporting. Previously, she wrote full time about parenting issues for the app Parent Lab. Before that, she worked as a reporter for National Geographic covering wildlife crime and exploitation. learn more

This story originally appeared on: Health News - Author:Sarah Garone