If you prefer to walk for exercise and usually go out with your spouse or other important person, new research suggests that it would be wise to leave them eating dust – or at least encourage them to pick up the pace. A study recently published in the academic journal Movement and posture found that couples walking together also end up walking at a much slower pace. If the couple were the hand-holding type? Their speed slowed down even more.
“If someone slows down substantially when walking with someone else, it can negate some of the recognized health benefits if they walk alone at a faster pace,” said Libby Richards, Ph.D., MSN, RN, CHES, an associate professor nursing staff at Purdue University, who conducted the study.
Although other studies have shown that working with friends and family is extremely beneficial to obtain more gains in fitness – and impose a greater sense of responsibility on everyone involved – the act of walking, perhaps because it is an exercise carried out at a pace of conversation, seems to be an exception. “We hoped that there would be no reduction in the speed where the partners walked together,” explained Richards. “We expected the slowest partners to accelerate to match the fastest partner, but that was not the case.”
For the study, the researchers studied the walking times and gait speeds of 72 couples aged 25 to 79 years. They performed all types of hikes “in various environments,” the study said, “including unobstructed or unobstructed paths, walking together, walking together hand in hand and walking individually.”
As numerous studies have shown, gait speed is extremely important for the quality of the exercise you do when you are walking. “Gait speed is important to measure because it is related to general health. Typical gait speed is predictive of risk of falling, functional capacity, recovery from disability and mortality, ”said Shirley Rietdyk, Ph.D., MS, professor of health and kinesiology at Purdue, at the official launch of the study. (For more evidence of the importance of gait speed, please be aware that a new study of cancer survivors published in the journal Epidemiology, biomarkers and cancer prevention concluded that “those who walked at the slowest pace had a more than twice as high risk of death from any cause, compared to those who reported the fastest walking pace.”)
Ultimately, the researchers found that in all types of walking conditions, “both partners reduced speed when walking together and further reduced speed when walking hand in hand, when compared to walking alone. While walking with a partner can increase walking activity due to social support, reduced speed when walking together can accidentally reduce the health benefits and quality of walking for both partners. “
So remember this the next time you go for a walk with your OS. To discover just a few of the additional benefits you will enjoy after increasing your walking pace, read on, as we have listed them here. And for more important advice on how to make the most of your walks, don’t miss the main mistakes you should never make when walking, according to experts.
A new study of older adults with cognitive impairment, which was published in Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, found that taking half-hour energetic walks promotes healthy blood flow to the brain and improves its cognitive performance, while increasing memory function.
If you are looking to stabilize your blood sugar, you may find worse ways than taking a short, quick walk in your neighborhood after eating. A study published in the journal Diabetology in 2016, we found that just a 10-minute walk after eating helped people with type 2 diabetes to lower blood sugar levels. To learn about other great ways to stay in shape from now on, consider trying this full-body home workout that increases strength and burns calories quickly.
According to a study published in 2015 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a brisk 20-minute walk every day can reduce the risk of death by more than 30%.
“Having a regular walking schedule can be great for your health, and I’m not just talking about physical, but also mental health,” said Dr. Amy Lee, Nucific’s Chief Nutrition Officer, earlier Eat this, not that. “[You have a] sense of accomplishment when burning calories, [you] it can reduce daily stress, and you let the body secrete natural endorphins, which are the ‘wellness’ hormone. “
A study published this year in the journal Scientific Reports says you should take faster walks for the sake of your creativity. And look, the more you walk, the more your mind blooms. “The most active of the volunteers also proved to be the most creative, especially if they walked frequently or exercised moderately,” he explained. The New York Times. And if you’re walking to lose weight, make sure you know how far you should walk every day to burn more fat, says the specialist.