Walking faster could reduce your risk of a common heart problem

Walking at a quick pace could keep your heart in a normal rhythm, suggests a new study.

For research, published on April 15 in the journal HeartScientists focused on how frequency, duration and walking speed have reduced the risk of developing heart rate abnormalities called arrhythmias, which can cause a stroke and other negative heart events.

The most common type of arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation (AFIB) results from problems with the superior chambers of the heart and has doubled in the last decade. It is estimated that 12.1 million Americans will have Afib by 2030.

Walking that the researchers considered an “average” pace – three to four miles per hour – reduced the chances of an arrhythmia of more than a third, reported the researchers. Those who walked at a rapid rate of more than four miles per hour had an even lower risk.

“Our message to take away,” said the author of the main study, Jill Pell, PHD, professor of public health at the University of Glasgow, “is that people should try to find some time during the day to work deliberately.”

While previous studies have linked the rhythm of walking to a lower risk of heart attack, stroke and death, little research examined the link between walking speed and arrhythmia.

To fill this gap, the researchers examined the data of 420,925 participants who reported their walking speed via a questionnaire in the United Kingdom Biobank, a large-scale bio-medical database. Nearly 82,000 have also provided activity trackers data that enabled researchers to check their speed.

The researchers classified the pace of walking slowly (less than three miles per hour), on average (three to four miles per hour) and in force (more than four miles per hour).

Over a 13 -year follow -up period, 36,574 or 9% of participants with self -depressed data were diagnosed with cardiac rhythm abnormalities. The majority – 23,526 – received a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation, while 19,000 have developed other arrhythmias, such as ventricular, which come from the lower rooms of the heart.

Some models have emerged on faster walkers. They tended to be men, to live in less disadvantaged neighborhoods and to have healthier lifestyles. On average, faster walkers had a smaller size, weighed less and had better adhesion resistance and lower metabolic risk factors, such as fatty fats and glucose, measured in the blood. They also showed lower inflammation levels and lived with fewer chronic conditions.

Compared to slow walkers, people who declared walking at an average pace had a lower risk of 35% lower in heart rate abnormality. A fast walking pace has been linked to another reduced risk, at 43%.

Of the 81,956 participants with activity monitoring data, 4,117 have developed arrhythmia. Unlike slow walkers, those who walked at an average or fast pace had a 27% lower chance to have diagnosed arrhythmia. The more time people have spent time walking faster, the lower their associated risk.

After checking if other factors have influenced the association between walking and lower risk of arrhythmia, researchers found that metabolic or inflammatory factors could explain 36% of the link.

The march benefited women, people under the age of 60, people with a body mass index under 30, people with hypertension and people with the most chronic or more health problems.

Jonathan Myers, PHD, cardiologist with the health care system Va Palo Alto, who was not involved in the study, said Health That research is “impressive” and adds to increasing evidence supporting the general benefits for the health of physical activity.

However, Elroy AGUIAR, PHD, assistant professor of science of exercise at the University of Alabama, who has also not affiliated to research, noted certain drawbacks.

“There are a few weaknesses to this study, which the authors recognize mainly, including the age group, which excludes people aged 70 and over, and the majority white sample, so that the results may not be generalizable at other ages and racial or ethnic groups,” he told Health.

Because the study is observational, it does not establish causality but shows only an association between walking speed and the reduced risk of arrhythmia. However, researchers controlled cardiovascular risk factors and did not include participants diagnosed with heart or vascular diseases at the start of the study.

Pell, however, recognized that “the ideal would be that an intervention study is now done, in which some people who walk slowly increase their rhythm of walking and some do not do so and discover if fewer people in the first group develop abnormal cardiac rhythms.”

According to Aguiar, walking can reduce the risk of arrhythmias and other heart problems in three ways.

First, it can improve the balance of the autonomous nervous system, which regulates the “combat or leak” and “rest and digest” response. It can also increase the size of the left ventricle, which pumps the oxygenated blood through the rest of the body, increases the effectiveness of the heart and reduces blood pressure. Finally, walking improves the blood supply of the heart, reducing inflammation and the plate that could cause blockages and heart attacks.

Another advantage in walking? “This is the simplest type of exercise that we can do, and most of anyone can do it,” said Myers.

When it comes to improving heart health, it doesn’t matter whether people walk on a carpet treadmill at the gymnasium or outside in the park. However, AGUIAR said that hilly and hilly terrain could provide better training and that outdoor walking could stimulate pleasure and mental health. “People are more likely to exercise regularly if they appreciate it,” said Aguiar.

Almost anyone can accumulate a rapid pace, but some may want to start slow and ask their doctors advice beforehand, especially if they have chronic health problems.

“As with all the objectives of physical activity, if you have trouble, for example, because you are overweight, then accumulate speed and time gradually,” said Pell Health. “But one of the interesting conclusions of our study was that people with existing health problems have benefited the most of a faster pace of walking.”