Middle-aged people who walk slower have weaker lungs, teeth and immune systems, scientists found Walking slowly could be a sign you’re more likely to get sick in later life, according to new research. A simple test to measure the speed someone walks could predict their chance of getting diseases like Alzheimer’s decades before symptoms develop, scientists say. Researchers found 45-year-olds who naturally walked slowly had brains and bodies that showed signs of “accelerated aging” on a 19-measure scale. Their lungs, teeth and immune system were all in worse shape than people of the same age who walked faster. They also had lower total brain volume, less brain surface area and more small lesions in the brain, which is normally indicative of someone older. Slower walkers also looked older in the eyes of a panel of eight people who assessed each participant’s “facial age” from a photograph. “The thing that’s really striking is that this is in 45-year-old people, not the geriatric patients who are usually assessed with such measures,” said lead researcher Line JH Rasmussen, a post-doctoral researcher at America’s prestigious Duke University. Scientists could work out how fast someone would walk in middle-age by looking at their brains when they were just three years old. Scores on their IQs, their ability to understand language, motor skills and emotional control could predict their walking speed at 45, according to the paper published in Jama Network Open journal. There was a difference of 12 IQ points on average between children who grew up to be slowest (with a mean gait speed of 1.21 metres per second) and fastest (with a mean gait speed of 1.75 metres per second). Scientists believe this is because the ability to walk depends on the interplay of many organ systems. They also believe cognitive functions like memory and walking speed could be associated. “A person’s walking speed depends on the function of all these systems working smoothly together, and reduced walking speed can be a sign of advanced ageing and deteriorating function of these organ systems,” said senior author Terrie E Moffitt from Duke University and King’s College London. “This inexpensive and quick test tells us a lot about their inner health, and how fast their organ systems and brains are ageing towards later diseases.” Source
