Older women enjoy benefits for their hearts and live longer, research suggests.

Older women who clock up 4,000 steps a day just once or twice a week cut their chance of early death by 26%, research suggests.

It is also the amount people walk, rather than the number of days on which they walk, that is important for slashing death rates and the risk of heart disease, experts said.

They suggested that benchmarks such as needing to walk 10,000 steps every single day are wrong, adding "there is no 'better' or 'best' pattern to take steps".

They said moving is important and "individuals can undertake physical activity in any preferred pattern".

The study found that, compared with women who were fairly sedentary, those who achieved 4,000 steps per day on one or two days days a week had a 26% lower risk of death from any cause and a 27% lower heart disease risk.

Achieving this on three days a week did have more benefits, of 40% reduced earlier death risk and a 27% lower risk of heart disease.

Even more exercise than that (5,000 to 7,000 steps) led to more declines but these were more modest.

Here, there was a 32% lower risk of death but there was a levelling out in the risk of a cardiovascular disease death, at 16%.

The researchers, including from Harvard University in the US, said the study found that "the number of steps per day, rather than the frequency of days/week achieving a particular step threshold is important" for cutting the risk of early death and heart disease in older women.

They added: "Physical activity guidelines in older women should consider recommending at least 4,000 steps per day on one to two days per week to lower mortality and cardiovascular disease risk."

The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, included 13,547 women free from heart disease and cancer at the start, who were typically aged around 72.

The women wore devices for seven consecutive days to measure their step count and were tracked for nearly 11 years.

During this time, 1,765 women (13%) died and 781 (5.1%) developed heart disease.

The team concluded a "greater number of steps, regardless of daily patterns, is associated with better health outcomes".

Women walking 4,000 steps once or twice a week 'cuts risk of early death by 26%'