Slow walkers 'more likely to die young' - and we're not even sorry

There are many things to get angry about in this world: injustice, intolerance, prejudice, inequality. But we’ll be honest, we’re mainly angry about people who walk too slowly.

Come on guys, this is the 21^st Century, we’ve got places to be and jobs to do – this planet isn’t going to just destroy itself, you know. Just get a bloody move on and get out of our way.

Still, news has emerged which has calmed us somewhat. According to a new study, healthy adults who are slow walkers are twice as likely to die from heart disease as those who walk at a faster pace.

See Lemar, there is some justice in this world after all.

The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Leicester, followed 420,727 people over a period of six years, and assessed the death rates over the period. Slow walkers were found to be between 1.8 and 2.4 times more likely to die of heart disease. The study took into account factors including smoking, BMI and diet, and found that – perhaps surprisingly – those with the lowest BMI had the highest risk from walking slowly.

Lead author Professor Tom Yates commented: “This suggests that habitual walking pace is an independent predictor of heart-related death… Self-reported walking pace could be used to identify individuals who have low physical fitness and high mortality risk.”

Essentially, the authors believe that walking pace is an indicator of overall health and fitness – if you’re fitter, you’ll tend to walk faster. Which we guess makes you fitter, which will then make you walk faster – it’s a virtuous circle.

So the message to slow walkers is clear: if we don’t kill you first, the heart disease will.

(Image: iStock)