Research suggests that modifying your walking speed can significantly benefit your health.
Most of us know someone who walks quickly, making it difficult to keep up and often prompting requests for them to slow down.
Interestingly, their swift pace may be beneficial.
A recent study featured in the journal Heart indicates that walking faster is linked to a reduced risk of heart irregularities, such as atrial fibrillation, bradyarrhythmias, and ventricular arrhythmias.
Atrial fibrillation involves an erratic heartbeat starting in the heart’s upper chambers.
Its symptoms can include fatigue, heart palpitations, breathing issues, and dizziness.
On the other hand, bradyarrhythmias are characterized by a heart rate that is slower than normal—typically below 60 bpm. Ventricular arrhythmias involve abnormal rhythms from the heart’s lower chambers, potentially causing dangerously rapid heartbeats.
Findings from the study suggest that a brisk walking pace correlates with reduced risks of all types of heart rhythm disorders.
Dr. Jill Pell, the study’s senior author from the University of Glasgow in Scotland, noted that the research underscores a straightforward method to enhance heart health.
“The great thing about walking is that it is accessible to everyone,” she told CNN.
“You don’t need to spend money going to a gym or buying equipment. You can just walk out of your front door and keep going.
“There are medicines and procedures that can be offered to these people but it would be preferable to prevent heart rhythm abnormalities from occurring in the first place.”
The researchers analyzed health data from participants involved in the UK Biobank study during the early 2000s.
Individuals were queried about their walking speed, choosing between slow, average, or brisk.
Approximately 6.5 percent reported walking slowly, 53 percent at an average pace, and 41 percent briskly.
The study revealed that walking at an average or brisk pace is linked to a 35 percent and 43 percent decreased risk of heart rhythm issues, respectively.
“We had data on self-reported walking pace from more than 420,000 people but we also had accelerometry data on (nearly) 82,000 of these,” Pell said.
“The data from the watches showed that walking at an average pace (3-4 miles per hour) for only 5-15 minutes per day was sufficient to reduce your risk.”
The benefits were most pronounced in individuals under 60 and appeared more significant in women than in men.
“This is an interesting finding because, although women are less likely to get atrial fibrillation than men, when they do get it they are at a higher risk of going on to get heart attacks and strokes than men with atrial fibrillation,” added Pell.
The study does have some limitations, as Pell pointed out that pre-existing conditions might cause some individuals to walk slower.
“We did everything possible to avoid this by making sure that no one had any type of heart or vascular disease at the beginning of the study,” said Pell.
“However, we really need an intervention study now to confirm our findings: a study of people who walk slowly in which some are asked to increase their walking pace and some are not.”