> It’s entirely possible that people who are healthier simply tend to walk more than people who are less healthy, and daily step counts are therefore merely a p

> It’s entirely possible that people who are healthier simply tend to walk more than people who are less healthy, and daily step counts are therefore merely a proxy for general health, and don’t have an inverse causal relationship with all-cause mortality. However, I don’t think that’s the case – at least not entirely. For example, a 2015 meta-analysis found that group-based walking interventions, all lasting one year or less, led to significant decreases in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, resting heart rate, body fat percentage, body mass index, total cholesterol, and depression scores, while increasing VO2max, 6-minute walk distance, and score on the SF-36 physical functioning inventory. Most walking intervention studies don’t use particularly strenuous walking programs either – generally 20-30 minutes of walking per day, which works out to ~2,400-3,600 steps for most people. So, if a bit of walking can beneficially modify ten different risk factors for all-cause mortality in less than a year, I think we can make a pretty strong case that the inverse relationship between step counts and all-cause mortality is more than mere association. https://www.strongerbyscience.com/research-spotlight-walking/ https://www.strongerbyscience.com/research-spotlight-walking...