走路慢的人可能衰老速度更快

Ambling along at a leisurely pace might seem like an ideal anti-stress strategy, but if slow-and-steady is your usual speed, it could be an indication that you’re aging more quickly than someone with a faster gait.

慢悠悠地走路似乎是一種理想的抗壓策略，但如果你一直都緩慢平穩(wěn)地走路，這可能向你發(fā)出了一個(gè)信號(hào)：你會(huì)比走路快的人衰老得更快。

A research published in JAMA Network Open used data from a long-term study collecting health information on over 900 New Zealanders over a 40-year period that started when the participants were around 3 years old. They assessed gait speed, focusing on the slowest 20 percent and fastest 20 percent throughout three walking conditions: at their usual gait, at their normal pace while reciting alternate letters of the alphabet out loud, and at their maximum gait speed.

《美國(guó)醫(yī)學(xué)會(huì)雜志網(wǎng)絡(luò)公開(kāi)版》上發(fā)布了一項(xiàng)研究，研究數(shù)據(jù)來(lái)自對(duì)900多名新西蘭人進(jìn)行的長(zhǎng)達(dá)40年的健康追蹤調(diào)查，參試者自3歲起就接受了測(cè)試。研究人員評(píng)估了參試者的步行速度，重點(diǎn)關(guān)注步速最慢和最快的20%參試者的三項(xiàng)行走速度：一般步行速度、一邊大聲背誦字母表中的間隔字母一邊正常行走的速度，以及最大步行速度。

The slowest walkers averaged 1.21 meters per second (m/s), or roughly 2.7 miles per hour, throughout all three of the conditions, while the fastest walkers averaged 1.75 m/s, or 3.9 miles per hour.

在以上三種狀態(tài)下，步速最慢的參試者的平均速度為每秒1.21米，或約每小時(shí)2.7英里，而步速最快的參試者為每秒1.75米，或每小時(shí)3.9英里。

They also had 19 biomarkers assessed, including body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio, cholesterol levels, white blood cell count, gum health, and cardiorespiratory fitness. Finally, they had neuroimaging tests to look at age-related features of the brain.

研究人員還評(píng)估了19項(xiàng)生理指標(biāo)，包括體重指數(shù)(BMI)、腰臀比、膽固醇水平、白細(xì)胞計(jì)數(shù)、牙齦健康以及心肺功能等等。最后，他們還利用神經(jīng)影像測(cè)試評(píng)估了參試者與年齡相關(guān)的大腦特征。

Researchers discovered that those with the slowest walking speed showed accelerated aging across the various biomarkers, as well as a reduction in total brain volume, showing that walking speed can affect both physical and cognitive health. In fact, there was even a 16-point IQ difference between the fastest and the slowest walkers, the study found. Slower walkers were also judged to appear significantly older than faster walkers, and scored worse on tests that measured balance and grip strength.

研究者發(fā)現(xiàn)，從多項(xiàng)生理指標(biāo)來(lái)看，走路最慢的參試者呈現(xiàn)了加速衰老的特征，同時(shí)他們的大腦總?cè)萘恳灿兴鶞p小。這表明，走路速度會(huì)影響人的身體健康和認(rèn)知健康。研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)，走路最慢和最快的參試者之間平均相差16個(gè)智商值。走路較慢的參試者比走路快的參試者看起來(lái)明顯更顯老，在平衡和握力測(cè)試中的得分也更低。

“How fast people are walking in midlife tells us a lot about how much their bodies and brains have aged over time,” said lead researcher Line Rasmussen, Ph.D., of Duke University. She told Runner’s World the most remarkable aspect of the research is that they may be able to look at cognitive functions in toddlers — how well they do on an IQ test, their proficiency at language, how easily they manage their emotions — and predict how slowly those children will be walking at midlife. “Gait speed is not only an indicator of aging, but also an indicator of lifelong brain health,” she said.

杜克大學(xué)的首席研究員萊恩·拉斯穆森博士說(shuō)：“人到中年時(shí)的步行速度可以反映出隨著時(shí)間的推移，他們身體和大腦的衰老程度如何。”她告訴《跑者世界》，這項(xiàng)研究最引人注目的一點(diǎn)是，研究者可以通過(guò)觀察學(xué)步兒童的各種認(rèn)知能力，比如他們?cè)谥橇y(cè)試中的表現(xiàn)、他們的語(yǔ)言能力和情緒管理能力，來(lái)預(yù)測(cè)這些孩子中年時(shí)期的步行速度。她說(shuō)：“步行速度不僅是一項(xiàng)衡量衰老的指標(biāo)，也是衡量大腦終身健康狀況的指標(biāo)。”

Does that mean those kids are destined to be slow walkers, and therefore at a disadvantage health-wise when they get older? Not necessarily, Rasmussen added, because there are ways to improve brain health. For example, running. “Although we didn’t investigate running speed in this study, typically people who love running are also able to walk very fast, because running keeps the brain’s capacity to control bipedal locomotion at its sharpest,” she said. “Running is an excellent way of keeping the body and mind in shape.”

這是否意味著，這些孩子長(zhǎng)大以后就必然會(huì)走路緩慢，他們年老之后的身體機(jī)能也必會(huì)處于劣勢(shì)?拉斯穆森博士認(rèn)為未必如此，因?yàn)榇竽X健康狀況可以通過(guò)多種方式來(lái)改善，例如跑步。“雖然在這項(xiàng)研究中，我們并沒(méi)有測(cè)試參與者的跑步速度，但通常來(lái)說(shuō)，熱愛(ài)跑步的人走路也很快，因?yàn)榕懿綍?huì)使大腦控制雙足步行的能力保持在最敏銳的水平，”她說(shuō)，“跑步是保持身心健康的絕佳方式。"