Anti-Aging Trick That Costs Zip!
I do this ALL the time!
So many of us are looking for the next amazing senolytic. Anti-aging tools.
There are nutrients, hydrogen water filters, red light saunas, hyperbaric, the off label use of rapamycin.
But there is a simpler easy daily action you can add into your life, with huge anti-aging benefits.
That you can do anywhere.
Costs nothing.
And benefits add up fast.
It’s not speed dating.
It’s…
Speed gaiting.
The faster you move, the slower you age.
On all parameters of health from joints to cognition to longevity.
The consensus of a vast body of literature, is the “faster” you push yourself to walk, anywhere, at a parking lot or airport terminal, the better ALL aspects of health improve.
Once you start to walk at a more “comfy” level, a stroll, these benefits decrease.
Of course, walking is great. It’s better than making a dent in your favorite chair or couch.
But adding “speed walking” to your day, ups your quality of life from northerly to southerly tissues.
You can do it in bursts.
Speed walking to your mail box.
Down the dairy isle at the grocery store.
If you walk in the morning, add in bursts of increased speed.
Examining 49 studies demonstrated an association between gait speed and variables of life, all improving with faster gait: disability, frailty, falls, muscular weakness, diseases, body fat, cognitive impairment, mortality, stress, lower life satisfaction, lower quality of life, napping duration, and poor performance in quantitative parameters of gait in community elderly.
The faster your move, the slower you age.
End of story.
It’s a clear cut cause-and-effect.
We don’t have a lot of these clear cut connections.
Often we have associations.
But here you have it.
Moving faster, compared to strolling along much of the time, even lowers inflammation. By lowering the most pro-inflammatory cytokine, IL-6! That’s a wow.
Cardiovascular surgeons find that seniors that have slower gait times do worse with heart surgery outcomes, than those that can walk faster.
In The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Hobbs et al1 retrospectively reviewed 453 patients aged ≥60 years undergoing elective aortic surgery whose 5-meter gait speed was recorded in the Society for Thoracic Surgery database.
They found “slow walkers” had more comorbidities. And fared worse outcomes. From heart to kidneys to surviving after surgeries.
Got a surgery planned? Do some speed walking.
When I was younger, I had a lot of surgeries. I got up earlier than my earliest surgery, and “hit” the gym. Hit the tread mill. Walked as fast as I could. Recovered shockingly fast.
If you are ill, don’t let it overtake all your molecules.
You must “train” for your wellness, like you are entering an Iron Man.
Pushing yourself, in a sane but absolutely takes the breath out of you way, keeps you stronger. Not weaker.
Gait speed is even linked to mood, like depression. And how we perceive the world around us.
Patients who walk slower have more heart disease, more falls, more depression and more cognitive decline.
The slower you walk, the faster you age.
Gait speed is an “independent” factor in aging that is easy to develop a habit to overcome.
Gait speed protects lung health. Even reducing episodes of pulmonary issues from pneumonia to lung fibrosis. Another wow!
How to add speed gait to your anti-aging regime:
Park further away from where you are going, and speed walk partway there.
In an airport? Speed walk through the terminals. I do this all the time.
Walking for exercise? Do high interval bursts.
Try wearing wrist and ankle weights to add benefits.
On a tread mill have bursts of higher speeds.
At home? Got stairs? Speed walk, go two steps at time. Even if you have to pull yourself up with the banister. Do your steps even In bursts.
I do this all the time. I love my 18 steep stairs.
They keep me younger. (I also do affirmations while speed walking up my stairs, sometimes I give “Thanks” with every step, what a powerful mood improver. And fast!)
Love that Betty White response when asked, “How did you achieve living so healthy and long”?
Betty White answers:
“I live in a two-story house,
“And… I have a really bad memory!”
“Ha!
Upping your walking gait here and there amidst your life is fun, is a great anti-aging strategy, costs nothing, and has BIG benefits.
We are all looking for the best senolytics, meds that slow down aging.
Here is a great senolytic… walk faster. With regularity.
This is one of my anti-aging secrets that I live younger by.
Knowledge is power.
Dr. B.
References:
Effects of walking speed on gait biomechanics in healthy participants: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Syst Rev. 2019 Jun 27;8(1):153
Physical frailty and gait speed in community elderly: a systematic review. Rev Esc Enferm USP. 2018 Dec 13;52:e03392. Portuguese, English
Physical activity, interleukin-6 change, and gait speed. Aging (Albany NY). 2023 Jun 3;15(11):4568-4570
Gait speed is a preoperative indicator of postoperative events after elective proximal aortic surgery J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg.2022;163:886-894.e1
Gait Speed is independently associated with Depression Symptoms in Mild Cognitive Impairment. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn. 2022 Jul;29(4):637-650
Gait Speed Test and Cognitive Decline in Frail Women With Acute Myocardial Infarction. Am J Med Sci. 2020 Nov;360(5):484-488.
Gait speed in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: Quickly stepping in the right direction. Respirology. 2023 Jul;28(7):594-596
Great info-I’m inspired!