Especially when you have hypertension.
In an adult at rest, the heart rate is between 50 and 100 pulses per minute. This pace can vary slightly depending on the activity, the temperature or the taking of exciting. In some people, the heart rate becomes irregular, we speak of arrhythmia. This arrhythmia can lead to palpitations and discomfort, heart failure or even the formation of blood clots increasing the risk of stroke. It is even one of the main causes of stroke. Walking being a recommended activity to improve general health and more particularly cardiovascular health, researchers have looked into the ideal pace to protect the heart.
The team at the University of Glasgow in Scotland analyzed the walking speed of more than 420,000 people via questionnaires and a subgroup of 80,000 people was then added, each carrying an accelerometer. Three gaits were compared: slow, medium and fast. More than 220,000 people declared walking at a medium rate, 170,000 a quick pace and 27,000 a slow pace. Over the 14 years of follow -up, 36,000 subjects have developed cardiac arrhythmias.
“Our results suggest that fast walking could be a safe and effective exercise to reduce arrhythmias, especially high risk groups”explained the authors in the journal “Heart”. Compared to those who walked slowly, the average walkers had a reduced risk of 35% of developing a cardiac arrhythmia and those who walked quickly, a reduction of 43%. A slow look corresponds to a little less than 5 km/h, an average look is between 5 and 6.4 km/h and a quick look at more than 6.4 km/h. These are the last two gaits that should be favored to preserve heart health. The results were all the more convincing in people who are hypertension.
These results could be explained by the positive impact of fast walking on inflammation and metabolic factors such as cholesterol, blood sugar or blood pressure. The faster we walk, the more we also reduce obesity and inflammation markers. This physical activity that can adapt to all profiles, and requiring any equipment, it is easier to get into it. You know what you have to do!
