
Slow walking at 45 'a sign of faster ageing' - hanoz
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-50015982
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greysphere
This sounds like one of the billion things correlated with having less money.

[https://www.citylab.com/life/2012/03/why-people-cities-
walk-...](https://www.citylab.com/life/2012/03/why-people-cities-walk-
fast/1550/)

~~~
nostrademons
And to g, that statistical construct that's most commonly associated with IQ
but also correlates heavily with general health and economic outcomes.

~~~
benj111
Tell me more about _g_.

Google is unsurprisingly being unhelpful.

~~~
Retric
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_factor_(psychometrics)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_factor_\(psychometrics\))

------
Scoundreller
> A number of treatments, from low-calorie diets to taking the drug metformin,
> are currently being investigated.

Everything I read about metformin is exciting: cheap, simple structure, causes
weight loss, reduced all-cause mortality in diabetics (ie: they studied it
long enough to make sure it works, not just to ensure it reduces blood sugar),
reduces blood sugar without hypoglycemia and might prevent cancer.

~~~
NotSammyHagar
Yes, I want to find a doc to prescribe me this and also understands the
negatives. Why aren't there more docs doing this kind of stuff? Maybe bc it is
not so simple?

~~~
ollysb
The side effects can be pretty nasty. I took it for 6 months and the stomach
pain and diarrhoea never went away. Berberine however acts on the same
pathways as metformin and doesn’t cause the side effects. As a bonus you don’t
need a prescription to take it.

~~~
Scoundreller
> stomach pain and diarrhoea never went away

I always wondered if that's what caused the weight loss: destabilization of
the digestive system, so you grow to fear overeating/eating crap.

Dunno how one can say they work on the same pathways: we're not really sure
how metformin does its thing.

~~~
copperx
Not necessarily as you describe it, but weight loss might be the result of the
microbiota changes induced by metformin.

I never felt digestive issues when taking metformin, only a feeling of having
less energy.

------
Donald
Full article is available at the Journal of the American Medical Association's
website:

[https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2752818)

An interesting take-away not mentioned in the BBC write-up is that the
researchers found significant effects as early as three years old, suggesting
causal factors found in early childhood or a genetic origin. Perhaps sedentary
behavior early in life has long-lasting effects for the CNS?

> Lifelong compromised brain health—including poor neurocognitive functioning
> as early as age 3 years and childhood-to-adulthood decline in cognitive
> functioning—was associated with slower gait at midlife.

~~~
TruckingThrow
This is possible but I'd really like to see twin studies to confirm it, with
differences in activity levels between the twins as the variable.

I would suspect there is a genetic mechanism at play too, but at this point
I'm spitballing.

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aiexplorations
At the risk of sounding like confirmation bias, I have found many relatives
and friends to adhere to this kind of simple rule. The more agile and active
you in middle age, the better your sleep quality probably is, and both of
these are a proxy for how well you will age, apart from genes.

~~~
PopeDotNinja
A researcher from the University of California, San Francisco posed this
trivia question at a Q&A event on healthspan... At age 65, what single factor
most accurately predicts the likelihood you'll live to age 100. The answer was
walking speed (faster is better). He said that this has been shown in multiple
studies, but they weren't sure why. Sorry, I don't have a source.

------
Someone
_”Even at the age of 45, there was a wide variation in walking speeds with the
fastest moving at 4m /s at top speed (without running).”_

4m/s? That’s 14,4 km/hour. They must have met a racewalker
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_records_in_maste...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_records_in_masters_athletics#5000_metres_race_walk)
says the world record for 45 year old for 5k is 20:28:28. That’s almost
exactly that speed)

I can surely imagine those walking at those speeds to be healthier than
average.

~~~
ColinWright
I suspect they were mixing units and someone got it wrong. As noted elsewhere,
the article is now edited, but it's worth noting that 2 m/s (the value now
quoted) is a little over 4 mph.

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taneq
This reminds me of the “surprising” finding that ability to stand from seated
partition without using your hands is associated with dramatically lower
chance of dying within 5 years. Of course, this is because anyone likely to
die of old age within 5 years is unlikely to be that spry.

~~~
darkerside
Correlation doesn't equal causation, in either direction.

It's fashionable to downplay the physical these days, but I think it's
reasonable to hypothesize that if you don't maintain your muscle, you reduce
quality of life AND increase mortality risk significantly.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
It’s much worse if you can’t maintain your muscles, rather than just don’t.
And older people have a lot of reasons that can happen (my dad degraded like
this quickly from cancer we didn’t know about at the time).

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mikedilger
Study link:
[https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2752818)

The study was done in NZ in Dunedin. I wonder how much difference/coorelation
there is between locales. I've found that Wellingtonians walk very fast in
general - I thought I was a fast walker always passing people in San
Francisco, but when I moved to Wellington everybody was passing me.

~~~
timClicks
It's amazing that the Dunedin Study is still producing results like this. I
wonder why longitudinal studies are not more common now, given that these 900
people have been such a deep source of knowledge.

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Markoff
well I walk much slower since I walk with small children and I guess it took
its toll on even when I walk alone. what's the point reversing to your regular
high speed when later you need to drag with children? it's just easier to get
used to lower speed. many people at 45 could still have like 5yo child (2nd)
or even younger or was the study done only on childless people?

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mcv
Sounds like it's a good sign that at 45, I am still annoyed by how slowly
everybody else is walking.

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philippeback
I walk slower because I have smaller legs.

Pff, but then I can swim faster than quite a lot of younger people, for
longer, and daily.

And run.

WTF.

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TruckingThrow
>I walk slower

I have bad news for you, friend.

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psilocipher
So, if you feel older than you really are, walk faster. Problem solved. Got
it.

~~~
NotSammyHagar
correlation vs causation. If you walk slowly you won't be able to figure it
out.

~~~
psilocipher
My point, albeit made sarcastically, is maybe some people just like to walk
slowly. I was taught as a young man that walking slowly is a sign of wisdom
and confidence. It means you know where you are going, you left on time, and
you're not in a hurry.

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AssTrolladjer
This shit will not replicate. Classic p-value hacking, if not total fiction,
dreamt up to pad chum buckets. It is junk science to the core. I'd bet one
thousand dollars that another researcher could wrangle contradictory data with
a diametrically opposed result.

This trash infotainment has been selected because it is inconsequential to the
point of being astrology. No individual can take this "discovery" and apply it
to their daily life, but most importantly, it's been selected such that should
any moron try it out on their own, they won't be able cause harm. Perfect
fodder for the BBC nanny state media.

So... what's your sign?

~~~
gerbilly
Your whole post is just an empty argument from authority.

Who are you and why should we just believe what _you_ are saying any more then
the study?

