LEICESTER, United Kingdom — A brisk walk could help add 16 years to your life, a new study finds. Researchers at the University of Leicester have discovered a link between a person’s walking pace and the rate at which they age.
Specifically, a lifetime of brisk walking leads to longer telomeres. These are the protective “caps” on the ends of your chromosomes — sort of like the plastic tabs on your shoelaces. Although they don’t carry genetic information, telomeres play a vital role in keeping DNA stable.
Scientists measure these end caps to calculate a person’s biological age. The longer they are, the younger a person is in terms of biological age — which can be much different from chronological age (your birthday).
In an analysis of over 400,000 British adults from the UK Biobank, scientists found that a faster walking pace throughout life could lead to a person being 16 years younger in terms of biological age by the time they reach midlife. Importantly, the team found brisk walking alone, regardless of how much physical activity that person engages in, leads to longer telomeres.
Walking faster may also prevent disease
Researchers explain that each time a cell divides, telomeres become shorter. At a certain point, telomeres get so short that the cell no longer divides. Although the link between telomere length and disease is still unclear, scientists say the buildup of senescent (elderly and dying) cells contributes to the development of age-related diseases and frailty.
Previous studies have shown how walking can provide physical, mental, and social benefits. However, the team says this is the first time scientists have compared walking speed with genetic data tied to longevity.
“Previous research on associations between walking pace, physical activity and telomere length has been limited by inconsistent findings and a lack of high-quality data,” says lead author Dr. Paddy Dempsey in a university release.
“This research uses genetic data to provide stronger evidence for a causal link between faster walking pace and longer telomere length. Data from wrist-worn wearable activity tracking devices used to measure habitual physical activity also supported a stronger role of habitual activity intensity (e.g. faster walking) in relation to telomere length,” the lecturer and research fellow at the University of Leicester continues.
“This suggests measures such as a habitually slower walking speed are a simple way of identifying people at greater risk of chronic disease or unhealthy aging, and that activity intensity may play an important role in optimizing interventions. For example, in addition to increasing overall walking, those who are able could aim to increase the number of steps completed in a given time (e.g. by walking faster to the bus stop). However, this requires further investigation.”
A quick walk around the block could add decades to your life!
Leicester researchers have previously found that as little as 10 minutes of brisk walking each day can contribute to a longer life. These individuals had a life expectancy up to 20 years longer than their slower walking peers.
The team in this study notes that they did not find a link between walking slower and telomere length growing shorter.
“Whilst we have previously shown that walking pace is a very strong predictor of health status, we have not been able to confirm that adopting a brisk walking pace actually causes better health. In this study we used information contained in people’s genetic profile to show that a faster walking pace is indeed likely to lead to a younger biological age as measured by telomeres,” concludes Tom Yates, senior author and Professor of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior and Health at the University of Leicester.
The study is published in the journal Communications Biology.
The article doesn’t state the definition of fast on brisk walking according to the study.
I think most people understand the difference between slow and brisk. If you don’t understand, run. When you find yourself at that point where you recognize you’re barely running, back off a notch and you will be walking, albeit, as fast as you can. You will then be near the range of “brisk walking”.
Keep your head up and make sure your laces are tied. Cover your mouth if you sneeze or cough and wash your hands with soap and water fairly frequently. Don’t throw sticks or anything else sharp at anyone and don’t call names. Respond respectfully with “yes sir” or “yes ma’am” to your elders and put on your galoshes and rain coat if it’s raining. And don’t run indoors. Stop, drop, and roll if you catch fire. (Watch Talladega Nights for an example of technique.) Good luck.
Bwhhhaahhh!!!
Incomplete article. They never explain the definition of “fast walking”
How many steps per minute?
I walk 2 miles in 36 minutes. Is that fast or slow?
Interesting article, but ineffecive.
Check out Zone 2 cardio training. That is probably the cardio heart rate zone that brisk walking gets you into and is supposed to be very effective.
Your pace is a little under 4mph, which is fast (most people seem to walk at just under 3mph).
As to this site, it routinely leaves out critical information; look up anytime it’s reported on caloric restriction (which is often), and you’ll see it never defines what “restriction” looks like (25% of…what? Basal metabolic rate? They never say). Here’s another piece of missing, critical information: Is the “brisk pace” a natural pace, or intentional?
Journalism is just such a garbage profession these days – every midwit seems to end up in it.
Nope 18 minutes per mile is just over 3mph.
I tend to walk at about 4-4½ miles per hour, always have. Let’s see how far past 100 I live ????
I love the term midwit. It is my new go to.
Speed up, Calvin!
12 minute mile might be quick.
It’s slow
No its not. That’s 5mph which is a very fast walking pace.
I average just over 4 mph and consider that a fast pace.
My walks are generally 4 miles but I have kept that pace for almost 12 miles.
Very s-l-o-w !!!
I agree
If this were true all the mail carriers would live to be 100.
Mail carrier does something that’s a no,no, in walking effectively for good health and that’s stopping and going I believe constantly walking for 30 minutes a day without stopping and making it a way of life along with some calisthenics and fair diet will increase your life span, I add the reading of psalm 91 to my regimen.
I have been on regular daily 5-km walk for over 5 years. From experience, it takes an average 50 min to complete the 5 km with deliberate effort to maintain my steps at the maximum speed. I have considered it “brisk walk” as I tend to over take almost all the others throughout the walk. I hope this helps….
Lord Byron stated that when qualitative ideas are expressed in quotative terms, a higher quality of information is offered. PhD physiology
Like the other commenters, I kept waiting to read the definitions of fast and slow. What about age groups? Surely “fast walking” is different for people in the 20s vs. people in their 70s. What are those paces?
Another factor is leg length or length of stride. I’m 5’2″ and have shorter legs.My ex was6’2″ with much longer. The length of his stride obviously was longer . . .a lot longer. There were a lot more steps taken in my mile than his.
I scanned the study that this article links to and found this:
“… a slow pace as less than 3 miles per hour, a steady/average pace as between 3–4 miles per hour, and a brisk pace as more than 4 miles per hour.”
Yes, please update the article with the definition of “fast” walking. What pace is considered “fast”? Do I need to step up my pace to get the longevity benefits, or is it OK as is? Seems like that would be an obvious takeaway that people would be looking for from this article.
Total BS. I’ve lived in Mexico for 15 years, and although Mexicans are the slowest walkers I’ve ever been trapped behind the average life expectancy is about the same as in the USA.
Well being sedentary isn’t working out for most industrialized nations.
Fast-walking is considered to be at an average speed of four (4) miles per hour or a fifteen (15) minute mile.
Competitive speed-walking is at five (5) to six (6) mph.
Like everything in the media in this age, it is not actually meant to convey meaningful information – it is only presented to grab your attention, attract your mouse clicks, distract you from the truth, or present a one-sided narrative.
You get your heart rate up. For example, a 10- to 15-minute brisk walk typically elevates the heart rate to 110 to 120 beats per minute. For a 40-year-old it’d be 180 bpm x 0.85 = 153 bpm. For this person, their target heart rate while walking would be between 90 and 153 beats per minute.https://www.healthline.com/health/brisk-walking#target-heart-rate
This is the chicken and egg paradigm. Can you walk faster because of good aging (rate of genetic telomere aging) or is it good aging because of the walking. This is the association vs. causation. It certainly can’t hurt to walk at a fast pace.
I walk 3 miles a day in hilly, sometimes rocky, terrain in a near-by county park. It usually takes me one hour and about 20 minutes. I am 80 years old. What should be my goal?
Marte
You’re good. Keep it up.
Outstanding job Marte! More power to ya! 🙂
Great! Your goal and mine, is to just keep breathing and enjoy the ride. (A veteran of many 72 mile/3 day pilgrimages in France). I am 84. I am as active as possible, and count my blessings. My mind seems to be younger than my body????!
I read the article to mean something OTHER than cardiovascular exercise was at work here. Ie., those who go from point A to point B and routinely PASS others are the fast walkers.
This is great news for me because I am 64 and nobody at a mall or an airport walks as fast as I do as a matter of course. Has nothing to do with being late either. I just pass everyone all the time.
Related study finds that people who do not live cemeteries are more likely to still be alive.
Tell this to my 100 year old father who ate bacon, eggs and fried potatoes every morning, had ice cream every night after dinner and has barely exercised since D-Day.
When I visit each week I bring him a sleeve of chocolate chip cookies which he promptly devours. We just made an appointment for next years annual physical exam!
I am 75. At 3 mph, I walk 1.75 miles 4 days a week. My max heart rate= 225-75=150. X 80%=120 BPM. At 3 MPH my HR = 129-131. I think “Brisk” must have some age componet to it. I am over weight + 23 Kilos (for all you Brits). I am happy to have the post to spur me to read deeper. But in 125 words, the author could have answered plenty of questions.
So does running accomplish the same thing?
I am 62 years age with 188 cm height with 200 pounds weight. I walk 4.5 KM in 50 minutes and do yoga, meditation and exercise for 30 minutes. Whether it is consider brisk walk?
Generally:
AGE
13-29 brisk walk is 15 minute or less mile.
30-39 brisk walk 16 minute or less mile.
40-49 brisk walk 17 minute or less per mile.
50-59 brisk walk is 18 minute or less per mile.
60-69 brisk walk is 20 minute or less per mile.
71-79 brisk walk is 22 minute or less per mile.
80-89 brisk walk is 24 minute or less per mile ( I think I’d be happy just to walk).
90-99 brisk walk 26 minute or less per mile. ( I would be ecstatic to be able to walk period!)
Average casual walk is 20-22 minutes. So, speed it up everyone.
Bucky is exactly right. The article (I haven’t read the original scientific study) simply describes an correlation between fast waking and longer telomeres.
Whether either causes the other, or both are caused by a third factor, or if the association is random, is unstated. Therefore trying to lengthen ones telomeres (and thus live longer) by waking faster may be a fool’s errand. It could be, for example, that people with poor physical conditioning and poor cardiac health die sooner and also walk slower.
A 6′ 10″ individual is likely to be a better basketball player than a 5′ 6″ one. But for an adult to try to get taller by practicing free throws is idiotic.
So in the dark ages, when everyone walked everywhere, their life expectancy was higher?
I walk fast and have for many years, but I think there are other factors that contribute to a longer life as well on this path, as it were. Walking fast (or slow) is one of those exercises that doesn’t feel like exercise because it is also very enjoyable. Fresh air, sunshine (or even rain and some snow), the sounds of nature, brief, obviously, but always pleasant interactions with passers by–and all this is enhanced if you’re not stressed over heart rates and distances. I have long legs so I can walk about six miles an hour, and if I find myself slowing, I just speed it up. I also got in the habit of taking deep breaths, from time to time, as I walk. That’s about it. I’m 71 and I’m in very good health. I have been a life-long walker. Just enjoy it! It’s free, fun, and very refreshing.
As a lifelong runner, I can say this is absolute nonsense. “Brisk walking” may be better than doing nothing, as moving is crucial always, but it is not going to add years to your life and it’s not a secret youth potion. Walking doesn’t even burn that many calories. You can kill a 2-hour walk with a candy bar. Walking should only be considered as a gateway exercise, done until you are in better shape to do more impactful exercise. This article is just another excuse for lazy people to remain lazy.
How do we know fast walking causes long telomeres, and not that long telomeres cause fast walking?
Wouldn’t you have to have people change there lifestyle, ie get the slow walkers to walk fast and the fast walkers to walk slow and see if their telomeres change?
Or maybe it’s something else that causes both, and both are merely subordinate effects.
It is likely that people predisposed to fast walking have these longevity benefits. Someone without that predisposition probably cannot just start walking fast and expect the same result.
I’d like to see more of that babe in the video, that will help me live longer along with fast pace walking. Hell ya!
The faster the better. And besides, what most people dont see is, any speed is better than spending all day inside reading about ways to get healthy.
Some are making this too difficult. It’s a brisk walk. Picture a slow jog. Picture a normal walk. It’s something in between the two. Don’t try to overthink this.
As others have mentioned, the study is very flawed since it is unable to establish that brisk walking causes a person to live longer. More likely, people who are physically healthier (i.e. more muscle mass, less fat) are capable of walking faster and thus do walk faster. Healthier people tend to live longer than unhealthy people. Thus, healthier people both walk faster and live longer, but walking faster does not cause one to become healthier. An analogy is basketball players. People who play basketball tend to be taller than average. But it is not playing basketball that causes a person to get taller.
I do not advise vigorous exercise after you get your CDC shot or CDC booster. Wait for a few weeks.
Watch out for health studies: Does fast walking cause good health or does good health cause fast walking. Probably both. I notice cause and effect can be either way for a lot of studies.
So…As a “slow walker,” I guess I’m doomed.
Factor in older people with bad arthritis in knees and hips who are doing their best to walk briskly.. I can do 25 min mile but hard to increase without being in pain the rest of the day instead of feeling better after walking.. it’s a challenge!
I am 86 and a former infantryman. The Brit normal marching speed is 120 paces to the minute with a 30-inch pace. This works out at 3 mph or 1 mile every 20 minutes. That is relatively slow (and dignified) and our Light Infantry/Rifles friends do 140 to the minute, but I suspect a shorter pace. On my morning walks each day before breakfast, I probably do about 130 paces to the minute, but have not measured the length of pace.
I think many of the other responders are probably experts at counting the number of angels on the head of a pin! IMHO walking fast depends on the age and condition of the person and has to be reasonable for the individual. Many people have died trying to clear snow in record time. What’s the point?
For 22+ years I’ve walked 3 to 5 times a week 15 minutes in the am the “Walk away the pounds” or otherwise called “Walk at Home” Programs by Leslie Sansone (videos & YouTube) which incorporates brisk walking & movement. I am now in my mid-60’s & I am on no Rx medications, have no weight issues, no B/P issues, no ♥️ issues, no diabetes, no gastric problems, no renal issues, no problem moving around, no arthritis, and feeling great about my health. Many times I have heard Leslie Sansone say, “Exercise is the best medicine.” I made the choice 22 years ago to choose routine exercise and this fact has been clinically proven. It’s not too late to start an exercise program! I recommend this walking program to you! Consult your MD before starting any exercise program.
The article quoted has many design flaws. Its conclusions are for amusement. This story, then, isn’t much more than clickbait.