Fast Walkers Live 15 Years Longer Than Dawdlers, Reveals Research

A new study suggests that fast walkers may live longer than dawdlers.

The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Leicester and published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, analysed data on 474,919 individuals with an average age of 52, in the UK, between 2006 and 2016.

The research paper concluded that fast walkers, who often walked up to 100 steps a minute, have a higher life expectancy than slow walkers, who take around 50 steps a minute.

According to the findings, women who walked briskly had a life expectancy of 86.7 to 87.8 years old, meanwhile men who walked hasty had a similar life expectancy of 85.2 to 86.8.

In contrast, slow walkers had a much shorter life expectancy at 72.4 years for women and 64.8 years for men.

The paper pointed out that the ratios remained the same even if the fast walkers were slightly, or severely overweight.

While the results do not prove that fast walkers will live longer, of course, it does prove a correlation.

Commenting on the findings, Professor Tom Yates, the lead author of the study, said: “The findings suggest that perhaps physical fitness is a better indicator of life expectancy than body mass index.”

The study also suggests that those who linger while walking slowly are twice as likely to suffer heart-related deaths as fast walkers.

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