A recent study found that data that could be collected on a person from 6 minutes of walking was sufficient to estimate a person's risk of death over the next five years.

The study was conducted by Bruce Schatz of the University of Illinois, and was published Thursday in the journal PLOS Digital Health, and New Scientist wrote about it.

Previous studies have estimated mortality risk using the level of daily physical activity, which was measured by wearable motion sensors in devices such as fitness watches.

However, despite the growing popularity of smartwatches and fitness trackers, they are generally not worn by everyone.

Smartphones that can collect data

Most people have smartphones that can collect data, Schatz says, but calculating the mortality risk from the activity data they collect is difficult, because people don't tend to carry their phones around all day.

Schatz and colleagues studied data on 100,655 participants in the UK Biobank Study, which has been collecting health information on middle-aged and older adults who have lived in the UK for more than 15 years.

As part of that study, participants wore motion sensors on their wrists for a week.

About 2% of the participants died within the next five years.

The researchers conducted motion and death sensor data for about 10 participants through a machine learning model, which developed an algorithm that estimated a 5-year risk of death using acceleration during a 6-minute walk.

Walking pattern linked to heart and lung disease

"For many diseases, particularly heart or lung disease, there is a very distinct pattern where people slow down when they stop breathing and then speed up again with short doses," Schatz says.

Through the algorithm, scientists were able to predict the probability of death over the next five years.

While this study used wrist-worn motion sensors, smartphones are also able to measure acceleration during short walks, says Schatz, who is currently planning a larger study using smartphones.

"If people have phones, you can make a weekly or daily forecast and that's something you can't get any other way," he adds.

According to a previous study published in the BMJ in 2009, which included 16,414 people, participants who had a low walking speed had a 3-fold increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease compared to participants who walked faster.

walking speed

According to a previous study by researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia and the University of Southern Denmark, walking speed showed benefits beyond the number of steps achieved.

The study was published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, and reported by eurekalert.

Co-author Dr Matthew Ahmadi, research fellow at Charles Perkins at the University of Sydney, said the message from the study is that for the sake of preventative health benefits, people should ideally not only aim for 10,000 steps per day, but also aim to walk normally. faster.

"Step counts are easily understood and widely used by the public to track activity levels thanks to the growing popularity of fitness trackers and apps, but people rarely think about their pace," said author Emmanuel Stamatakis, professor of physical activity, lifestyle and population health at the University of Sydney.

The study found that every 2,000 steps per day gradually reduced the risk of premature death by between 8% and 11%, and this applies even to nearly 10,000 steps per day.

A similar reduction was observed for cardiovascular disease and cancer risk.

A higher number of steps per day was associated with a lower risk of all-cause dementia.

The benefits of walking

  • feeling happy.

  • Improving creative abilities.

  • Increase metabolism.

  • Increased possibility of longevity.

  • sleep improvement.

  • Keep calm and relax.

  • Improve brain health.

  • Bone strengthening.

  • Have a great time.

  • Helping lose weight.