Taking 4,500 steps per day can help extend a person's life, a study has suggested.

Steps

Steps

Research from The University of North Carolina looked into the walking habits of more than 16,000 women and found that those over 60 who took more than 2,000 paces daily between 2011 and 2015 saw a 32 per cent decrease in death over the following four years, regardless of whether they clocked up steps in spurts or all at once.

Compared to those who took fewer paces, every additional 1,000 steps led to a 28 per cent fall in death over the time span.

Researcher Christopher Moore suggested that women should change their habits to boost their step count and extend their life expectancy.

He said: "To increase walking, people can park further away from their destination or do extra housework or gardening."