趕緊了 - 人行走的速度可能和壽命有關

美國一項研究顯示，對老年人來說，行走速度快慢可能與其壽命長短存在一定關聯。美國匹茨堡大學研究人員在新一期《美國醫學會雜誌》上報告說，他們跟蹤研究逾3.4萬名65歲以上老人後發現，行走速度較快與部分老年人壽命較長有關。研究人員認為，行走速度今後或許可成為衡量老人健康與長壽的一個指標。研究人員解釋說，行走需要體力，要求心髒、肺、血循環係統、神經係統及肌肉骨骼係統等相互協調。行走速度減緩可能反應人體內某係統受到損害，同時意味著行走會耗費更多體能，這可能與老人的預期壽命長短有關。

How fast you walk may determine your longevity. A new study says faster walking speeds were associated with living longer, and researchers even found that predicting survival based on gait speed was as accurate as predictions based on age, sex, chronic conditions, smoking history, blood pressure, body mass index and hospitalization.

Want to know how long you or your aging parents will live? One simple indicator of well-being and longevity among older people is their walking speed, new research shows.

In an analysis of nine studies involving more than 34,000 people ages 65 and older, faster walking speeds were associated with living longer: Predicted years of remaining life for each age and both sexes increased as gait-speed increased. The most significant gains were after age 75.

In addition, researchers found that predicting survival based on gait speed was as accurate as predictions based on age, sex, chronic conditions, smoking history, blood pressure, body mass index and hospitalization.

"My hope is that we begin to think about ways to reflect the health and function of older people that goes beyond diseases," says lead researcher Stephanie Studenski, a geriatric physician at the University of Pitt*****urgh, whose analysis appears today in the Journal of American Medical Association. "Functional status (walking speed) is an important reflection of health."

Walking is a reliable tool to measure well-being, Studenski says, because it requires body support, timing and power, and it places demands on the brain, spinal cord, muscles and joints, heart and lungs. Slowing down is associated with aging. By age 80, gait speed is 10% to 20% slower than in young adults, she says.

The findings can provide doctors with an inexpensive, safe and simple way of measuring performance that can help identify health problems, she says, and in many cases the results can lead to treatments that can improve well-being, ward off disabilities and help the elderly maintain independence.

"It's a very useful tool, and some physicians already use it," says Evan Hadley, associate director of geriatrics at the National Institute on Aging. "It's far from universal, though. This study does show walking speed is a very strong predictor of survival."

In the study, gait speed was calculated using distance in meters and seconds. All subjects were told to walk at their usual pace and from a standing start. Average speed was 3 feet a second (about 2 miles an hour).

During the 14-year course of the study, there were 17,528 deaths. Those who walked slower than 2 feet a second (about 1.36 miles an hour) had an increased risk of dying. Those who walked 3.3 feet a second (about 2.25 mph) or faster survived longer than would be expected by age or sex alone.

Outside of the study presented in JAMA, Studenski measured the walking gait of Edward Gerjuoy, 92, a professor emeritus of physics at Pitt, at 4.26 feet a second or about 3 mph. She says his probability of living 10 more years (to age 102) is about 40%, and his median life expectancy is about seven years.

He attributes his longevity to luck. He has always tried to maintain a healthy weight, he says, but he didn't start going to a gym to work out until he was 80, and he was never athletic. Now his "workouts" involve climbing the stairs daily at the university.

"My office is on the third floor," he says. "I walk from the parking lot to my office and down to the second floor several times a day because the printer is there."

He plans to keep climbing the stairs and is encouraged by Studenski's findings.

Studenski says the researchers are not advising people to walk faster -- that would be unsafe -- and some slow walkers do live a long time. "A very important point is that your body chooses a walking speed that is best for you," she says. "If a person is walking slowly, I might be able to identify what might be contributing to their problem and, in doing so, find ways to help them function better."

By Janice Lloyd (Sci-Tech Today)