Faster walkers more likely to live longer

People who report that they have a slower walking pace have a lower life expectancy than fast walkers, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) using UK Biobank data.

The research is a first of its kind and found those with a habitually fast walking pace have a long life expectancy across all levels of weight status – from underweight to morbidly obese. Underweight individuals with a slow walking pace had the lowest life expectancy (an average of 64.8 years for men, 72.4 years for women). The same pattern of results was found for waist circumference measurements.

Last year, Professor Yates who is a lead author of the study and a Professor at the University of Leicester, showed with his team that middle-aged people who reported that they are slow walkers were at higher risk of heart-related disease compared to the general population. The study, which also used data from the UK Biobank, showed that slow walkers were twice as likely to have a heart-related death as fast walkers, even when other risk factors such as smoking and body mass index were taken into account.

This is the first time research has associated fast walking pace with a longer life expectancy regardless of a person’s body weight or obesity status.