Another reason why slow walkers need to get a move on

If you’re the kind of person who gets frustrated by slow walkers, here’s another reason to tell them to hurry up.

New research has found walking faster could help people live longer. The research, conducted by researchers at the University of Sydney and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found walking fast is linked with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and overall death.

The study found walking at an average pace is associated with a 20 per cent risk reduction of all deaths when compared to walking at a slow pace. Similarly, walking at a brisk or fast pace was associated with a 24 per cent reduction in death.

When it specifically came to the risk of cardiovascular disease, chances of developing the disease were slashed by 24 per cent for people walking at an average rate and 21 per cent for people walking faster than others. Older members of society in particular could experience the positive impacts of increasing their walking speeds, with average over-60s in the study reducing the risk of cardiovascular death by 46 per cent and fast walkers by 53 per cent.

Lead author Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis said people should be pushing themselves when it comes to walking.

“A fast pace is generally five to seven kilometres per hour, but it really depends on a walker’s fitness levels,” he said in a statement. “An alternative indicator is to walk at a pace that makes you slightly out of breath or sweaty when sustained.

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For the results, researchers analysed 11 population-based surveys in England and Scotland between 1994 and 2008, where each participant was asked to self-report their walking pace. Researchers adjusted for a variety of factors including age, sex, BMI and intensity of physical activity.

“Walking pace is associated with all-cause mortality risk, but its specific role – independent from the total physical activity a person undertakes – has received little attention until now,” Professor Stamatakis said. “While sex and body mass index did not appear to influence outcomes, walking at an average or fast pace was associated with a significantly reduced risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease. There was no evidence to suggest pace had a significant influence on cancer mortality however.”

There are now calls for faster walking to be embraced and promoted in public health campaigns.

“Separating the effect of one specific aspect of physical activity and understanding its potentially causal association with risk of premature death is complex,” Professor Stamatakis added. “Assuming our results reflect cause and effect, these analyses suggest that increasing walking pace may be a straightforward way for people to improve heart health and risk for premature mortality – providing a simple message for public health campaigns to promote.”

He said walking faster is a good way of increasing the heart rate and an easy way of people incroperating this into their lifestyles.

What do you think? Could walking faster actually be better for your health?