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I absolutely picked up the fast walking gene from my dad, so hopefully that is good news for this guy! I always used to get annoyed when my dad would be about a block ahead of all of us on family outings, but now I get it. He was just being healthy!
I’m sure it was that and not him trying to get away from us…
A study by a team of researchers at Leicester University in England shows that people who walk fast may live up to 15 years longer than people who dawdle. The team analyzed data from 474,919 people with an average age of 52 in the UK between 2006 and 2016.
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The researchers concluded that, regardless of weight, people who regularly walk fast have a longer life expectancy. People can even be underweight or morbidly obese and the numbers still match up.
In the study, women who walk quickly have a life expectancy of 86.7 to 87.8 years, while ladies who walk slower have a life expectancy of 72.4. For the men, the numbers were 85.2 to 86.8 years for fast walkers and only 64.8 years for slow pokes.
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Professor Tom Yates, the study’s lead author, said,
“Our findings could help clarify the relative importance of physical fitness compared to body weight on life expectancy of individuals. In other words, the findings suggest that perhaps physical fitness is a better indicator of life expectancy than body mass index (BMI), and that encouraging the population to engage in brisk walking may add years to their lives.”
As they say, the proof is in the pudding. Now get outside and get walking! Science says it’s good for you!
