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Brisk Walking Lowers Risk Of Heart Rhythm Disorders
- April 16, 2025
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
Long brisk walks might lower a person’s risk for heart rhythm problems, a new study says.
Folks who stride faster than 4 miles per hour have a 43% lower risk of developing an abnormal heart rhythm, compared with those who amble at a pace of less than 3 miles an hour, researchers reported April 15 in the journal Heart.
The time spent walking also influenced risk, with people who spent more time at an average or brisk pace enjoying a 27% lower risk of heart rhythm problems, researchers said.
“These new findings reinforce the promotion of faster walking pace in physical activity recommendations,” concluded the research team led by Jill Pell, chair of public health with the University of Glasgow in the U.K. “Walking at a brisk pace may have a role in … prevention of cardiac arrhythmias.”
For the study, researchers used data gathered as part of the UK Biobank health study on nearly 421,000 people, including nearly 82,000 who wore an accelerometer to track their walking pace.
Overall, about 41% of people had a brisk walking pace, 53% an average walking pace and slightly more than 6% a slow pace.
Results show that a brisk or average pace reduced the risk of any heart rhythm problem by 43% and 35%, respectively.
People with a brisk or average pace also had a 46% and 38% lower risk of atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm condition that greatly increases the risk of stroke, results show.
Researchers estimate that about 36% of the link between walking pace and heart rhythm problems is influenced by inflammation and metabolism.
That jibes with previous research, which found that brisk walking can lower obesity, help improve blood sugar control, prevent diabetes and reduce high blood pressure, researchers said.
“This study is the first to explore the pathways underpinning the association between walking pace and arrhythmias, and to provide evidence that metabolic and inflammatory factors may have a role,” researchers concluded. “Walking faster decreased the risk of obesity and inflammation, which, in turn, reduced the risk of arrhythmia.”
More information
Harvard Medical School has more on walking for exercise.
SOURCE: BMJ, news release, April 15, 2025
