How many steps you need each day to prevent weight gain, according to a new study

• Walking can help prevent weight gain and obesity as well as chronic illnesses, new research suggests.
• At least 8,200 steps per day has been linked to lower risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, and depression.

Taking a daily walk may help prevent weight gain and stave off illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure, according to a study published October 10 in Nature Medicine.

Researchers from Vanderbilt University looked at an average of four years worth of data from activity trackers worn by 6,042 adult Americans to compare their habits and health outcomes.

They found taking at least 8,200 steps a day was associated with lower risk of obesity, depression, sleep apnea, and acid reflux, and the benefits increased with each 1,000 additional steps. Walking was also linked to lower risk of type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, but the benefits seemed to max out between 8,000-9,000 steps per day.

For people who were already overweight, taking 11,000 steps a day reduced their risk of developing obesity by 64%, according to the data.

Since the study included people who already owned a Fitbit, participants are likely to be more active than the general population, according to the researchers. But they believe their findings likely apply to everyone — and are perhaps even more relevant to less active people.

"The fact that we were able to detect robust associations between steps and disease in this active sample suggests even stronger associations may exist in a more sedentary population," they said.

When combined with diet and other healthy lifestyle habits, walking may also help you lose weight and keep it off, experts previously told Insider.

Walking also boosts longevity and mental health, studies show

The latest research confirms extensive previous evidence that walking can lower your risk of early death from causes like cancer and heart disease, and may also help prevent dementia and other age-related cognitive decline.

You don't need to walk for miles on end to reap the benefits, either. The popular goal of 10,000 steps a day isn't science-based, and was developed by advertisers to market the first commercial step counter.

Increasing your steps each day by a small amount could help, with every additional 2,000 steps per day linked to better health, according to a recent study.

Walking at a faster pace may increase the benefits even more: a speed of just under three miles an hour (112 steps per minute) is a good goal, some research suggests.