Faster walkers live longer, no matter how heavy

A new study reveals a significant difference in life expectancy correlated with walking speed at all levels of BMI.

Researchers examined data from the British Biobank on 474,919 people and found that those who walked faster had a longer life expectancy. Now, this in itself might not be such a big surprise; faster walkers may have a lower body mass index (BMI), usually associated with better health. But here's the problem: participants who reported a fast pace of walking had a longer life expectancy for all levels of BMI. And in fact, slower walkers with a BMI in the underweight category had the shortest life expectancy of all.

The study, led by researchers at the Leicester Biomedical Research Center (NIHR), is the first to associate a fast pace of walking with a longer life expectancy, regardless of the weight of the person.

The median age of participants in the prospective cohort study used for the analyzes was 58.2 years, with an average BMI of 26.7, considered to be overweight.

Data showed that self-reported fast walkers had a longer life expectancy for all BMIs, ranging from 86.7 to 87.8 years for women and 85.2 to 86.8 years. for men.

Those whose pace of walking was slow and self-declared had a shorter life expectancy. Remarkably, the lowest life expectancies were observed in slow walkers with a BMI less than 20 (considered underweight). For these participants, the life expectancy of women fell to 72.4 years and that of men to 64.8 years. This is a very significant difference.

Professor Tom Yates, professor of physical activity, sedentary behavior and health at the University of Leicester and senior author of the study, said:

"Our findings could help clarify the relative importance of fitness versus body weight on the life expectancy of individuals." In other words, the findings suggest that fitness is possible. -be a better indicator of life expectancy than body mass index (BMI), and Encourage the population to engage in brisk walking can add years to their lives. "

And we will repeat this last point: engaging in a brisk walk can add years to life. You can do this by increasing the frequency of your steps or by increasing their length.

We will not say that you should always walk so fast that you do not like the trip; but really, it's a win-win situation: drive less, get out of the car, hike and do your shopping whenever you can, and enjoy the pleasures of a steady pace. .. not to mention a cleaner planet and longer life.

You can see all the study here: Comparative suitability of fitness and fatness on life expectancy