Walking fast helps you live longer

People who walk faster are more likely to live longer regardless of their weight, according to a new study.

Researchers in the UK looked at data on 474,919 people who took part in the UK Biobank study between March 13, 2006 and January 31, 2016. The participants answered whether their usual walking pace was slow, average or fast. Researchers also measured factors including the participants' body mass index (BMI), their waistline, and body-fat percentage. On average, the participants were 58.2 years old and had a BMI of 26.7, landing them in the overweight category.

Participants who said they walked fast had longer life expectancies than the others regardless of their BMI, at 86.7 to 87.8 years for women and 85.2 to 86.8 years for men. Meanwhile, those who walked slowly had shorter life expectancies, particularly those who said they moved slowly and had a BMI of less than 20, even though this was in the healthy range.

Tom Yates, a lead author of the study and professor of physical activity at the University of Leicester told Newsweek that scientist had extensively investigated the role of excess body weight on a person's life expectancy over the past few decades. Studies from several countries have shown the risk of an overweight person's dying is lower if their fitness is higher.

“Most of these studies reported the beneficial effect of fitness in terms of relative risk reduction,for example 20% reduction of risk of death. Relative estimates, though, are difficult to explain,” he said.

To answer the“fit vs fat” question, the team chose walking pace, and they were surprised that the lowest life expectancy was seen in those who were underweight with a slow walking pace. However,Yates cautioned the study was observational and it didn't show causation between walking and life expectancy.

“While there're possibly many factors contributing to the strength of our findings, it's well established that increasing your fitness is one of the best things you can do for your health. Increasing your walking pace in everyday life is a good way to increase fitness levels, particularly in those who are slow walkers,” said Yates.

閱讀檢測

概率后綴樹[3]本質上是一個變階馬爾科夫模型。概率后綴樹用于描述一個序列集合的概率特征，樹上的每一條邊用交易序列中的一個交易表示，樹的節點用交易序列標記。根節點概率是交易集合中每個交易的無條件概率，其他節點的概率是該節點的標記交易序列的下一個交易出現的條件概率。下一個交易出現的概率是通過訓練過程中交易出現的相對頻率得到的。

1. What did the researchers focus on when collecting information?

A. Information on their life expectancies.

B. Information on the levels of their fitness.

C. Information on their walking pace and weight.

D. Information on their ages and body mass index.

2. Who is the most likely to live the longest according to the text?

B. Mrs Smith who is overweight and walks fast.

C. Mr Black who is a little thin and runs slowly.

D. Mr Brown who is slim and often runs fast.

3. What does Tom Yates think of the result of their research according to the text?

A. It is completely accurate. B. It is of great significance.

C. It isn't necessarily dependable. D. It is most probably unreliable.

4. What is Tom Yates trying to do in the last paragraph?

A. Make a summary. B. Make explanations.

C. Give a new opinion. D. Offer a suggestion.

語言學習

寫作推薦

People who walk faster are more likely to live longer regardless of their weight, according to a new study. 根據一項新的研究，不論體重多少，走得快的人可能長壽。

【信息提取】be likely to... 意為“有可能……”。

【句式仿寫】入場券可能很貴。