A new study says walking pace may matter as much as step count. Here is what the science actually found.

Researchers tracked 64,743 UK adults, average age 62, who wore wrist trackers for seven days. They were followed for about eight years, during which 1,697 died.

The key measure was peak 30-minute cadence: the average steps per minute during a person’s 30 most active minutes of the day.

People taking fewer than 5,000 steps a day but walking at about 80 steps per minute had a 28 per cent lower risk of death than the least active group. That matched the benefit of taking 5,000 to 7,500 steps at a slower 60 steps per minute.

Eighty steps a minute is a purposeful walk, not a stroll. You should feel slightly breathless but still able to talk.

The lowest risk was at 7,500 to 10,000 steps with a pace near 100 steps per minute.

One caution: the study is observational. It links pace with longer life but does not prove that speeding up directly causes it.