Various studies claim that speed of walking is an indicator of people’s wellness and longevity.
In nine U.S studies, which involved above 34,000 participants aged 65 and above demonstrated that walking speed influenced longevity. In the Journal of American Medical Association, it was published that people who walk faster had a higher chance of live longer.
In a recent research, Stephanie Studenski, the lead researcher and a geriatric physician at the University of Pittsburgh said that the number of days that men and women were expected to live augments significantly as their speed of walking increases beyond the age of 65. Those who walked faster at the age 75 had an even higher chance of living longer.
The study demonstrated that predicting survival based on how fast an individual walks was as precise as other survival-prediction factors like smoking history, sex, blood pressure, chronic conditions, hospitalization and body mass index.
The research demonstrated that an 80-year-old man walking at a speed of 1 mph had a 10 percent chance to reach the age of 90. However, the analysis concluded that if he increased his walking speed to 3.5 mph, his chance of reaching the age of 90 increased from 10 to 84 percent.
For women the research was equally significant. An 80-year-old woman who walked on an average speed of 1 mph had a 23 percent likelihood of reaching the age of 90. However, if her speed increased from one 1 mph to 3.5 mph than the chance of reaching the age of 90 would increase by 86 percent.
According to Studenski “Functional status (walking speed) is an important reflection of health.” The way people think about health does highly influence one’s probability of reaching old age. It is not only diseases that decrease one’s chance of living longer, factors such as walking slowly can decrease once longevity as well.
Source: mmortalhumans.com
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