Faster Walking Promotes Health and Longevity
Walking is good for your health, and as we now know, even just 7,000 steps are enough. But if you consciously increase your pace while walking, you get an additional boost, as a new analysis shows. As reported in the online journal PLOS ONE, all age groups can benefit from these health advantages.
The study examined seniors who increased their walking cadence by 14 steps per minute. "That's only a little more, but it already shows health improvements," says study author Margaret Danilovich. You just have to push yourself to walk a bit faster.
The target group for the study was frail individuals. The data from 102 older people with a median age of 79 were included. Over half of them needed walking aids, and most were not particularly active. Many suffered from heart problems, high blood pressure, lung problems, or other illnesses. Before the study, the seniors walked an average of about 3,800 steps per day.
15 Minutes of Brisk Walking Is Better Than 3 Hours of Leisurely Strolling
In the randomized study, they were assigned to two groups. The participants walked three days a week: the people in the first group at a normal pace, and those in the second group at an increased pace, "as fast as they could without danger." They were guided and accompanied during each session. After four months, the seniors in the faster group had improved their health more significantly and covered a greater distance in a six-minute walking test. They walked at an average of 100 steps per minute, while participants in the first group reached 77 steps.
The older test subjects were closely monitored during the study. It is unclear what the effects would be without this coaching. However, any exercise is better than no exercise, emphasizes aging expert Roger Fielding in the Washington Post. "Even at a leisurely pace, it has a positive effect on health; if you walk a little faster, those benefits are even greater," he says.
This is also supported by a study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, which examined 80,000 people in the southern USA. It states that people who walked at an increased pace for 15 minutes daily had a 20% lower risk of mortality. They fared better than a group that walked leisurely for 3 hours a day.
Tools for Walking: Measuring Distance, Metronome, or Interval Training
On average, healthy people walk at a pace between 1.1 and 1.3 meters per second. A slower pace can be a sign of illness in older people. If you frequently walk the same route, you can measure the distance and time to find out your personal walking speed. This also allows you to check for an increase in your cadence. Another option is a metronome on your smartphone. You can match your personal rhythm with it, and the metronome can then set a faster pace, for example, five more beats per minute.
Experts also recommend interval training or "Japanese walking." With the latter, you alternate between a fast and a normal pace every 3 minutes for a total of 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can simply walk certain sections of your usual route faster. This benefits your muscles, heart health, and overall fitness.
