The Walking Speed Test
As they say, a body in motion, stays in motion. Researchers have long used gait speed to measure overall health in older adults and studies show that older adults who walk faster tend to live longer than their slower-walking counterparts.
In one University of Pittsburgh study, over 90 percent of faster female walkers aged 75 went on to celebrate their 85th birthdays. The same went for over 85 percent of faster walking men.
People who walked at about 2.2 miles per hour were likely to live to the average life expectancy of someone their age. Every speed increase of 0.1 meters per minute translated into a 12 percent drop in their chances of dying in the next decade.
But researchers warn that simply walking faster won’t tack on years to your life. Its your natural walking speed that’s indicative of mortality,
