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, Walking
Do you amble along or do you walk fast? Here’s some news for those who amble along. Walking faster may actually help you live longer!
A study presented at a conference of the Gerontological Society of America found that those who walked more quickly were less likely to die over the course of the study. Researchers had followed the health of nearly 500 older people for almost a decade.
They added that gait speed may be a good predictor of long-term survival, even in people who otherwise appear basically healthy.
In a related study, in the November issue of The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the researchers found that people whose walking speed had improved, reduced their risk of death.
To calculate your walking speed, all you need to do is count the number of steps you walk per minute. The motive for walking differs from person to person. Some people go about walking, so as to ensure health fitness. For them, the right walking pace would be 3 miles per hour, which means about 120 steps in a minute.
But if you are walking, to shape up your body, then walking 120 steps won’t be adequate. You need to increase it to 135 steps per minute. You would need to walk 4 miles per hour to ensure good results in weight loss program. The target walking speed for aerobic fitness is about 150 steps per minute.
Depending on your goal, work on your walking speed to achieve the desired results. In any case, it’s faster the better.
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