Walking slightly faster than usual could significantly improve the health of older adults, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Chicago.
Specifically, scientists found that adults who were frail or at risk of being frail could improve their health and quality of life by walking at least 14 steps per minute faster than their usual walking speed.
“Walking faster is a known protector of mortality, and has been well established,” lead author Dr Daniel Rubin, associate professor of anaesthesia and critical care at UChicago, told BBC Science Focus. “Older adults who walk faster live longer.”
In total, 102 participants across 14 retirement homes were included in the study, which involved a four-month structured walking programme.
For those four months, 56 participants were asked to walk at their usual pace, and the remaining 46 were encouraged to walk as fast as safely possible.
By the end of the intervention, the walking speed of each adult was measured while they walked for six minutes.
All adults seemed to benefit from the walking programme, but those who walked at roughly 100 steps per minute seemed to reap the most rewards, in terms of how frail they were by the end of the study, compared to the beginning.
Scientists already knew that walking speed was linked to the health of older adults, but previous guidance for how to improve their pace tended to be subjective and difficult to measure.
For instance, older adults were advised to try walking at a pace that made it difficult to sing but easy to talk.
“We can now provide older adults with simple, specific guidance – like, ‘try walking five steps per minute faster than your usual casual pace’ – to help them improve their fitness,” said Rubin.
Doctors and researchers can use wearable devices such as accelerometers to measure a person’s walking speed, and Rubin and his colleagues are currently working on an app for people to measure it at home.
But for now, Rubin advises using a metronome to find out your usual walking pace by matching the rhythm of your steps with the tone of the metronome.
“Once you find your comfortable pace, you can then add five to 10 steps per minute and match the pace to increase your walking cadence,” he said. “The goal would be to target 10 to 15 steps per minute faster, as tolerated.”
Rubin added, however, that older adults should make sure they're walking safely, and don’t feel like they're going to fall, have chest pain or shortness of breath, or feel dizzy.
“Hopefully, older adults will use this as a practical way to guide their walking intensity so they can live longer and continue to do the things that they want to do,” he said.
Read more:
- Simple walking hack could boost your heart health, study claims
- 9 simple, science-backed changes that can reverse your biological age
- Forget 10,000 steps – walking just 5,000 is enough to lower your risk of death, says science
About our expert
Dr Daniel Rubin is a medical doctor and assistant professor of anaesthesia and critical care at the University of Chicago, US. He became interested in studying walking pace because of his clinical experiencing evaluating older patients preparing for surgery.
