Researchers from the University of Leicester at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre studied genetic data from 405,981 middle-aged participants and found that a faster walking pace, independent of the amount of physical activity, was associated with longer life.
Health Analytics Asia Desk
A lifetime of brisk walking could lead to the equivalent of 16 years younger biological age by midlife, says a new study conducted by the Leicester-based team of researchers. Despite the well-documented physical, mental, social and health benefits of walking, this study is the first of its kind to compare genetic data with both self-reported walking speeds as well as actual movement intensity measurements taken from wearable activity tracking devices.
The study confirmed a causal link between walking pace and leucocyte telomere length (LTL) – an indicator of biological age. Researchers found that 10 minutes of brisk walking per day was associated with longer life expectancy, and brisk walkers have up to 20 years’ greater life expectancy than those who walk slowly.
The study titled “Investigation of a UK biobank cohort reveals causal associations of self-reported walking pace with telomere length” was conducted on more than 400,000 UK adults.
Researchers from the University of Leicester at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre studied genetic data from 405,981 middle-aged UK Biobank participants and found that a faster walking pace, independent of the amount of physical activity, was associated with longer telomere.
Telomeres are the ‘caps’ at the end of each chromosome, and hold repetitive sequences of non-coding DNA that protect the chromosome from damage, similar to the way the cap at the end of a shoelace stops it from unravelling.
Each time a cell divides, these telomeres become shorter – until a point where they become so short that the cell can no longer divide, known as ‘replicative senescence’. Therefore, scientists consider LTL a strong marker for ‘biological age’, independent from when an individual was born.
Although the relationship between telomere length and disease is not fully understood, the build-up of these senescent cells is believed to contribute to a range of symptoms we associate with ageing, such as frailty and age-related diseases.
“Previous research on associations between walking pace, physical activity and telomere length has been limited by inconsistent findings and a lack of high-quality data,” says Dr Paddy Dempsey, Lecturer and Research Fellow at the University of Leicester and lead author on the study published in Communications Biology.
“This research uses genetic data to provide stronger evidence for a causal link between faster walking pace and longer telomere length. Data from wrist-worn wearable activity tracking devices used to measure habitual physical activity also supported a stronger role of habitual activity intensity (e.g. faster walking) in relation to telomere length,” says Dr Paddy Dempsey.
“This suggests measures such as a habitually slower walking speed are a simple way of identifying people at greater risk of chronic disease or unhealthy ageing, and that activity intensity may play an important role in optimising interventions,” adds Dr Paddy.
This new study demonstrates a causal link between brisk walking and telomere length and, significantly, not the other way round.
“Whilst we have previously shown that walking pace is a very strong predictor of health status, we have not been able to confirm that adopting a brisk walking pace actually causes better health,” Tom Yates, senior author and Professor of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Health at the University of Leicester and NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, said. “In this study we used information contained in people’s genetic profile to show that a faster walking pace is indeed likely to lead to a younger biological age as measured by telomeres.”
The introduction of the study says, “walking is a simple and largely accessible form of physical activity for all ages, conferring many physical, mental, and social health benefits with minimal adverse effects. It, therefore, holds potential as a pragmatic target for intervention”.
Strong associations with health status have been seen for habitual or self-rated walking pace, which has been associated with better physical fitness and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality with brisk walkers having up to 20 years greater life expectancy compared to slow walkers.
Walking pace has been shown to have a stronger association with survival and be a substantially better prognostic marker for all-cause or cardiovascular mortality than other measures of physical activity volume, diet, or physical function.
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