For older women, how many steps they take each day matters more for heart health than how often they hit 4,000 steps in a day.

For older women, it’s not how often you hit step goals during the week that matters most—it’s the total number of steps you take every day that really counts for staying healthy and lowering the risk of heart problems or early death.

If women in their 60s or older walk at least 4,000 steps just one or two days a week, they tend to live longer and have fewer heart problems compared to women who don’t walk that much at all.

Older women who walk about 4,400 steps a day tend to live longer than those who walk only 2,700 steps, and walking more helps up to about 7,500 steps — after that, walking even more doesn’t seem to lower the risk of dying any further.

If older women walk more steps each day—like 5,000 to 7,000 or more—even just a few days a week, they tend to live longer, and the more often they hit those step goals, the better their odds.

For older women, walking faster or with more intensity doesn't seem to lower the risk of death more than just hitting a total number of steps per day.