Walking has always been a popular exercise to stay fit, but the speed a person walks may help them live longer, a study says.
People with body weight ranges that span from underweight to obese have a longer life expectancy if they walk more briskly compared to those in the same weight category who don’t, according to research published this month in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
“Our findings could help clarify the relative importance of physical fitness compared to body weight on life expectancy of individuals,” Tom Yates, a researcher at the University of Leicester and study lead author, said in a news release.
The researchers studied data from the UK Biobank for more than 470,000 people. On average, slow walking underweight men and women lived the shortest life spans, at 64.8 years and 72.4 years, respectively.
