Will You Walk a Little Faster?

Robert W. Griffith, MD

"Will you walk a little faster?"
Said a whiting to a snail,
"There's a porpoise close behind us,
And he's treading on my tail."
(from Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll)

Fast walking is better than slow strolling for older folk, according to a report in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Japanese researchers compared the benefits of no walking, moderate intensity walking, and high-intensity interval walking in 186 women and 60 men over a 5-month period.

The quick walkers developed better flexibility and aerobic capacity, and had greater reductions in systolic blood pressure than the other groups. Moderate intensity walking did better than no walking, but was not as beneficial as high-intensity walking. The high-intensity group had to repeat 5 or more sets of 3-minute low-intensity walking (at around 40% of peak aerobic capacity) followed by a 3-minute high-intensity walk (at above 70% of peak aerobic capacity).

Maybe there's no porpoise on your tail, but accelerating your walk will certainly improve your health - and may help control your weight better.

Chorus : "Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance? Will you, won't you, will you, won' t you, won' t you join the dance?"

Source
HealthandAge Blog

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