Walking might seem like a pretty basic aspect of most of our lives. However, the speed at which you walk can actually tell doctors a lot about you, scientists claim. According to research, not only can it predict how likely you are to suffer a heart attack, but it can also help determine your brain’s age.
We’re still working hard to better understand the brain. There’s plenty we don’t know when it comes to how the brain does certain things, or even how our brains learn. But researchers are slowly making strides to uncover those mysteries.
One interesting tidbit about how the brain works, though, is the fact that the speed at which you walk can actually help scientists see your brain’s age, in a way. The walking test is a pretty basic test usually given to test someone’s functional capacity, especially after a stroke or brain injury.
However, you can also use the walking test to get an idea of how your brain has aged. All you need to complete the test is a stopwatch and a way to measure distance. As the BBC notes, the best way to set this test up is to measure out the first 5 meters (16.5 feet) and then follow that with another 10 meters.
The trick is to spend that first five meters getting up to your normal walking speed. Then, you can time the last 10 meters. After finishing, simply divide the 10 meters by the number of seconds that it took to walk. This will give you the speed that you walk.
Now, take your walking speed and compare it to the average walking speed of different age groups to see how your brain has aged. A study into the average walking speed of different age groups published in 2011 gives a bit of foundational information to work with. For example, the average walking speed of men and women from age 50-59 is 1.43m/s for men and 1.31m/s for women (4.3ft/s and 4.7ft/s, respectively).
Here’s a look at some other walking averages:
- 40-49 years old: 1.39m/s (4.6ft/s) for women, and 1.43m/s (4.7ft/s) for men.
- 50-59 years old: 1.31m/s (4.3ft/s) for women, and 1.43m/s (4.7ft/s) for men.
- 60-69 years old: 1.24m/s (4.1ft/s) for women, and 1.43m/s (4.7ft/s) for men.
- 70-79 years old: 1.13m/s (3.7ft/s) for women, and 1.26m/s (4.16ft/s) for men.
- 80-89 years old: 0.94m/s (3.1ft) for women, and 0.97m/s (3.2ft/s) for men.
Depending on how you measure up, you can estimate the range that your brain’s age falls into. Of course, this isn’t an exact science, but it’s an interesting way to look deeper at your own cognitive abilities as you age.
