Longevity: Should you be walking more or faster? Here's what experts say

10,000. That’s the number of daily steps recommended for adults. But increasingly, studies are showing that the speed at which you walk could have more impact on your overall health. A large scale study shows that walking briskly for about 30 minutes a day reduces risks of heart disease, cancer, dementia and death.

The faster, the better

The study published in two reputable journals JAMA Internal Medicine and JAMA Neurology examined the activity tracker from 78,500 people, some drawn from the UK Biobank. The average age of the participants is 61, and they agreed to wear activity trackers for seven full days and nights. Data from the trackers were collected and analysed, after which the researchers tracked the health outcomes of participants during a period of six to eight years, the New York Time reports.

The results showed that brisk walkers had a 35 percent lower risk of dying, a 25 percent lower chance of developing heart disease or cancer and a 30 percent lower risk of developing dementia, compared with those whose average pace was slower. Matthew Ahmadi, a research fellow at the University of Sydney and one of the authors of the studies said:

It doesn’t have to be a consecutive 30-minute session. It can just be in brief bursts here and there throughout your day.

Focus on intensity

A similar study led by a team of researchers at The University of Sydney found that the faster a person walks on average, the lower their risk of both all-cause mortality and death linked to heart disease. Another published in 2021 with a focus on cancer survivors, found that:

those who walked at the slowest pace had more than twofold increased risk of death from any cause, compared with those reporting the fastest walking pace.

Sources used:

Healthline: What Is the Average Walking Speed of an Adult?

Eat This, Not That: Exactly How Fast You Need to Walk to Live Longer, Says Science

New York Times: Speeding Up Your Daily Walk Could Have Big Benefits