A major side effect of walks with your partner, study finds

If you’d rather walk for exercise and go out with your spouse or partner a lot, new research suggests you’re better off leaving them in the dust – or at least encouraging them to pick up the pace. A study has just appeared in the academic journal Walking and posture found that couples who walk together also end up walking at a much slower pace. What if the couple were the type to hold hands? Their speed decreased even more.

“If someone slows down considerably when walking with someone else, it could negate some of the health benefits recognized by walking alone at a faster pace,” said Libby Richards, Ph.D. , MSN, RN, CHES, an associate professor of nursing at Purdue University who conducted the study.

Although other studies have shown that training with friends and family is extremely beneficial in improving fitness – and imposing a greater sense of responsibility on everyone involved – the act of walking, perhaps. because this is an exercise performed at a conversational pace, seems to be an exception. “We were hoping there wouldn’t be a reduction in speed when the partners walked together,” Richards explained. “We were hoping that the slower partners would speed up to match the faster partner, but that was not the case.”

For the study, the researchers studied the walking times and walking speeds of 72 couples aged 25 to 79. They took all kinds of walks “in many settings,” the study said, “including open or obstacle-filled paths, walking together, walking together holding hands, and walking individually.

As countless studies have shown, walking speed is extremely important to the quality of the exercise you get when you walk. “Walking speed is important to measure because it is related to overall health. Typical walking speed is predictive of fall risk, functional capacity, recovery from disability and mortality, ”said Shirley Rietdyk, Ph.D., MS, professor of health and kinesiology at Purdue , in the official version of the study. (For further evidence of the importance of walking speed, know that a new study of cancer survivors published in the journal Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers and prevention concluded that “those who walked at the slowest pace had more than twice the risk of death from any cause, compared to those who reported the fastest pace.”)

Ultimately, the researchers found that in all types of walking conditions, “both partners reduced speed when walking together and reduced speed more when holding hands, compared to walking alone. While walking with one partner may increase walking activity due to social support, reduced speed when walking together may unintentionally reduce health benefits and gait quality in both partners.

So remember this the next time you go for a walk with your SO. To learn about some of the extra benefits you’ll get after picking up your walking pace, read on, as we’ve listed them here. And for more great tips on how to get the most out of your walks, don’t miss the Big Mistakes you should never make while walking, experts say.

A new study on older people with dementia, published in the Alzheimer’s Disease Journal, found that going for brisk half-hour walks promotes healthy blood flow to the brain and improves cognitive performance, while boosting memory function.

If you’re looking to stabilize your blood sugar, you might find worse ways than taking a short, brisk walk around your neighborhood after eating. A study published in the journal Diabetology in 2016, walking just 10 minutes after eating was found to help people with type 2 diabetes lower their blood sugar. For more great ways to get fitter from now on, consider trying this full body home workout that builds strength and burns calories fast.

According to a study published in 2015 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a brisk 20-minute walk each day could reduce your risk of death by more than 30%.

“Having a regular walking schedule can be great for your health, and I’m not just talking about your physical health, but your mental health as well,” said Dr. Amy Lee, Nutrition Manager at Nucific. Eat that, not that. “[You have a] feeling of accomplishment by burning calories, [you] can reduce your daily stress, and you let the body secrete natural endorphins which are the “feel good” hormone. “

A study published this year in the journal Scientific reports says you should take faster walks for the sake of your creativity. And understand this: the more you walk, the more your mind will flourish. “The most active volunteers turned out to be the most creative as well, especially if they walked often or exercised moderately,” explained The New York Times. And if you are walking to lose weight, make sure you know how far you should walk each day to burn more fat, says Top Doctor.