A person’s usual walking pace may offer a useful glimpse of their health and possible longevity, according to new research.
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, tracked 4,067 adults in the U.K. whose average age was about 69. Researchers compared results from a short walk at each participant’s normal pace with data collected by a wrist-worn activity tracker over nine days.
During nearly 12 years of follow-up, people who walked faster in both the test and their daily lives had a lower risk of death, even after researchers accounted for other health and lifestyle factors. In total, 739 participants died.
Beth Templin, a board-certified geriatric clinical specialist and CEO of HouseFit Physical Therapy & Fitness in St. Louis, said walking speed can reflect how several parts of the body are working together. Physical therapists sometimes call it the “sixth vital sign,” she said.
Walking briskly takes leg strength, a healthy heart and lungs, balance, and coordination between the brain and nervous system. A slowing pace may be an early sign that one of these systems is changing, Templin said, sometimes before the change is apparent in routine test results.
For older adults hoping to improve their pace and fitness, simply adding more steps may not be enough. Templin suggested building strength and balance, including by standing up from a chair without using the hands or doing heel raises while holding a counter.
She also recommended adding brief intervals of faster walking. After warming up, someone could walk briskly for a minute, slow down for two minutes, then repeat the pattern and gradually lengthen the faster intervals.
The findings do not show that walking faster on its own makes people live longer. The study found an association, not proof of cause and effect, Templin noted.
The researchers also cautioned that participants were generally healthier than the wider population, and there is no single standard way to measure everyday walking pace using wrist trackers. Further research is needed to see whether the results apply to other groups.
