Ten thousand steps a day with type 1 diabetes: Is it really beneficial?

Walking is one of the simplest, most accessible activities: no special equipment or gym membership required, and the schedule is flexible. One can walk to work, run errands (no pun intended!), walk their dog… As low profile as it is, walking can make a real impact. For the general population, clocking up 7,000 to 10,000 steps per day is considered to be beneficial for overall health, including cardiovascular health.

What about people with type 1 diabetes (T1D)?

Living with T1D is like performing a daily balancing act: adjusting insulin doses, planning meals, preparing for the unexpected… In this context, physical activity requires particular strategies and monitoring. Blood sugar will fluctuate in different ways according to the type, intensity and duration of the activity, as well as the time of day and individual circumstances (age, sex, fitness level). Fear of is also a legitimate concern that influences how one goes about physical activity.

It is understandable why some will hesitate to be more active, despite the known benefits. In Canada, an estimated two out of three people with T1D don’t meet the general target recommendations for physical activity .

So, if standard training sessions are difficult to keep up with, how about walking more, all throughout the day? Would that help make a difference? To answer this question, we’ve asked 383 adults who participate to the registry and who live with T1D to wear a pedometer for a minimum of 9 days, and we collected their data. Here’s what we found.

Benefits as early as 7,000 steps

• Blood sugar and hypoglycemia

The most active participants, i.e., those who reached at least 7,000 steps daily, were also those who reached the recommended glycated hemoglobin target (≤ 7%) in greater numbers. Overall, the higher the step count, the higher the number of people who reached the recommended target.

A common concern was also proven unfounded: a higher number of steps was not associated with a higher number of hypoglycemic episodes, as the most active cluster of participants did not report more episodes of mild to moderate hypoglycemia. In fact, this group even reported fewer episodes of severe hypoglycemia than the participants who were the least active. However, it’s important to keep in mind that people who have fewer hypoglycemic episodes or who have less awareness may tend to clock up more steps (this reversed causality scenario is discussed more extensively in the paper on this study—see referenced).   

These results suggest that moving throughout the day could be conducive to safe glucose management.

• Physical

The most active cluster of participants had a lower body mass index and smaller waist, which are, incidentally, two major indicators of long term cardiovascular health.

Walking more every day is associated to a lower risk profile in terms of cardiovascular health, even without a structured exercise plan.

• Mental health

There were fewer participants among those who walked more than 10,000 steps a day who relied on depression or anxiety medication. While a causal relation cannot be established on this statistic alone, it still indicates that daily activity is positively associated with mental wellness. 

Why it matters

These observations were made taking into account the participants’ income, whether they had dependent children, and their place of residence (urban/rural).

While these results don’t call for a universal target or suggest that walking can solve all challenges associated with T1D, they still show that slowly increasing daily activity according to each individual’s needs could be an accessible tool to support physical and mental health.

References

• Garré TI, Guédet CG, Alexandre-Heymann L, Messier V, Boudreau V, Tagougui S, Laforest C, Brazeau AS, Rabasa-Lhoret R, Yardley JE. Association between daily steps, diabetes management and health indicators in people living with type 1 diabetes: A cross-sectional study from the BETTER registry. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2026 Jan 20. doi: 10.1111/dom.70473. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41555836.
• Canada PHA of. Risk and protective factors — Diabetes in Canada: An interactive report on key statistics — Canada.ca [datasets;statistics;education and awareness]. 2025 [cited 2026 Mar 31]. Available from: https://health-infobase.canada.ca/diabetes/risk-and-protective-factors.html