Sri Lanka, Oct. 27 -- A new study suggests that walking just 4,000 steps a day, rather than the more widely recommended 10,000 steps a day, could be enough to lower one's risk of death by up to 40 percent.

The research, published Tuesday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, analyzed a study of more than 13,000 older women over the age of 62 by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Researchers found that women who walked at least 4,000 steps once or twice a week, no matter their intensity, method or speed, cut their risk of death by 26 percent and their risk of heart disease over the course of a decade by 27 percent.

Women who walked at least 4,000 steps for three or more days a week further lowered their risk of d...