We all know that walking is good for our total body wellness, but a new study suggests that regular walking at a brisk pace may help to greatly increase your life expectancy.
According to a new study based on data collected from more than 400,000 adults in the United Kingdom, there exists a clear link between walking pace and a genetic marker of biological age. After identifying this link, researchers concluded that a lifetime of brisk walking could lead to the equivalent of 16 years younger biological age by midlife.
Walking Speed And Aging
For the study, researchers studied the genetic data of more than 405,000 middle-aged adults in the UK. They found that a faster walking pace, independent of the amount of regular physical activity the individual received, was associated with a longer telomere. Telomeres are the “caps” at the end of each chromosome that hold repetitive sequences of non-coding DNA that help to protect the chromosome from damage. Researchers say this cap acts in a similar manner to an aglet on a shoelace, which helps to protect the shoelace from unraveling.
Every time a cell divides, the telomeres become shorter – until they reach a point where they become so short that the cell can no longer divide, which is known as replicative senescence. Scientists can essentially use telomere length as a strong marker for biological age, independent from when an individual was born.
Researchers found that those with a higher self-reported walking pace had longer telomere length, regardless of when they were born.
“This research uses genetic data to provide stronger evidence for a causal link between faster walking pace and longer telomere length,” said Dr. Paddy Dempsey, a Lecturer and Research Fellow at the University of Leicester, and lead author on the study published in Communications Biology. “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 team concluded that walking speed may be a simple way to casually assess someone’s risk for certain diseases, and that individuals should not only try to walk more, but to work to build up their walking speed.
“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 ageing, and that activity intensity may play an important role in optimizing interventions,” said Dempsey. “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.”