By Maeve Bannister in Sydney

Office workers who reach a recommended step count could counteract the dire health effects of an otherwise sedentary day behind a desk.

But researchers involved in the latest a study warn the findings are not a “get-of-jail-free card” but rather demonstrates that all movement matters when it comes to offsetting the consequences of unavoidable time spent sitting down.

The study of more than 72,000 people was conducted by the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre and found every additional step up to around 10,000 steps a day was linked to a reduced risk of death and cardiovascular disease over a near-seven-year period.

It’s the first study to objectively measure, using wrist-worn trackers, the extent to which daily steps can offset the health risks of highly sedentary behaviour.

The research team followed participants for an average of nearly seven years and linked hospitalisation data and death records.

They found the optimal number of steps to best counteract sitting down was between 9000 to 10,000 per day.

This number of steps lowered mortality risk by 39 per cent and incident cardiovascular disease risk by 21 per cent over the study period.

In both cases, 50 per cent of the benefit was achieved when participants reached between 4000 and 4500 steps a day.

“This is by no means a get-out-of-jail card for people who are sedentary for excessive periods of time,” lead author and research fellow Matthew Ahmadi said.

“However, it does hold an important public health message that all movement matters and that people can and should try to offset the health consequences of unavoidable sedentary time by upping their daily step count.”

Senior author Emmanuel Stamatakis said research using device-based measurements provided big opportunities to improve public health.

“Step count is a tangible and easily understood measure of physical activity that can help people in the community, and indeed health professionals, accurately monitor physical activity,” he said.

“We hope this evidence will inform the first generation of device-based physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines, which should include key recommendations on daily stepping.”