A new study suggests that walking just 5,000 steps a day may slow cognitive decline by around three years, while reaching 7,500 steps daily could delay it by up to seven years.
Researchers found that sedentary individuals experienced a faster buildup of tau proteins in the brain — a key marker of Alzheimer’s disease associated with neuron death — leading to quicker declines in memory and daily functioning.
The findings, published in Nature Medicine, are based on data from 296 participants aged 50 to 90 enrolled in the Harvard Aging Brain Study. All participants were cognitively healthy at the start of the research.