Over 60? Here’s how walking faster can help unlock healthy ageing and increase independence

Fast walking is one of the best ways to exercise as you get older, because it can help you get fitter and healthier without putting too much impact on your joints and muscles.

A new study led by researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine has also found that increasing your walking cadence — the number of steps you take per minute — by 14 can help reduce frailty and increase physical function in older adults.

This advice differs from previous suggestions on how fast to walk to enjoy greater health benefits by providing a clear target, which you can target using apps or one of the best fitness trackers to monitor your cadence.

What does the research say?

There were 102 participants in the study that was designed to see if increasing walking cadence could improve physical independence in older adults deemed as frail or at risk of becoming frail.

Frailty is a medical condition that makes older adults more vulnerable in general, increasing the risk of falls and decreasing independence.

The study found that those who increased their cadence by 14 steps per minute — to around 100 steps per minute — experienced clear improvements to their physical function, and were able to walk further in a standardized test.

How to put these findings into practice

If you’re concerned about frailty then you can put this advice into practice by first determining your normal walking cadence.

You can measure this manually by counting the steps you take per minute, or by using an app or fitness tracker that monitors cadence.

Once you have your baseline increase your cadence to a level that feels brisk but still comfortable.

To help you maintain a faster cadence you can use an app or fitness tracker, or a simple metronome app set to the right beats per minute.

Any kind of walking can help you get fitter though, especially if you include some faster intervals in your walks, and you don’t have to push to exactly 14 extra steps per minute if that’s proving too challenging.

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