Charisa Bossinakis
If you’re sick and tired of overtaking people on the sidewalk, finally, some good news for you.
Research has found that fast walkers are likelier to live longer than slow walkers.
The Telegraph reported that data from almost 400,000 Britons followed for more than a decade found that those who define themselves as ‘brisk walkers’ are more than a quarter less likely to die from a cancerous illness.
The risk of dying from cardiovascular disease was also 60 per cent less likely in fast walkers.
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So, if you’re one of those people who simply like to take your time and smell the roses, you might want to think about quickening your pace.
To determine the participants' pace, they were asked if they described themselves as a brisk, slow or average walker.
Participants were given a guide that showed slow was less than 3 mph, average was 3-4 mph and brisk was more than 4 mph.
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“Compared to slow walkers, both brisk and average walkers are associated with lower rates of deaths related to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other causes” the study authors write in their study, published in the journal Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases.
“Therefore, walking speed could be used in routine clinical practice as a predictive marker for cardiovascular disease and other-cause related mortality in particular.”
Dr Jonathan Goldney, lead author of the study from the University of Leicester, is now encouraging people to pick up their pace where possible as this might improve their life expectancy and provide many other health benefits.
“Doctors should also consider asking their patients how quickly they walk, as it turns out that this can tell them a lot about their risk of death, which may guide the use of strategies to prevent early death and disease,” he said, as per the outlet.
Similarly, last year, the University of Sydney and the University of Southern Denmark found that 10,000 steps each day help lower the risk of disease and death.
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Scientists observed 78,500 UK adults who wore wearable trackers over two years and compared this with their health results seven years later.
Dr Matthew Ahmadi, the co-lead author of the paper and a research fellow at the University of Sydney, said that 10,000 steps a day is the ‘sweet spot’ as you could lower your risk of dementia by about 50 per cent.
He added that for cardiovascular disease and cancer, you’d lower it between 30 to 40 per cent.
So, don’t just get walking people; step on it!