Brisk walking may reduce irregular heartbeat issues: study

By Stephen Beech

Brisk walking lowers the risk of potentially deadly heart rhythm issues, according to new research.

Walking at pace is particularly beneficial for women and people under the age of 60, say scientists.

Scottish researchers found that walking at a brisk pace - classed as over four miles an hour - and the amount of time spent at that speed, may lower the risk of heart rhythm abnormalities, such as atrial fibrillation, tachycardia, and bradycardia.

The findings, published online by the journal Heart, were independent of known cardiovascular risk factors, but strongest in women, the under 60s, those who weren’t obese, and those with pre-existing long term conditions.

Heart rhythm abnormalities, or arrhythmias, are common with atrial fibrillation - an irregular heartbeat - alone doubling in prevalence over the last 30 years to reach nearly 60 million cases worldwide in 2019.

The abnormalities are associated with heightened risks of a potentially fatal heart attack or stroke.

While walking pace is associated with lower risks of cardiovascular disease and death, few previous studies had looked at its potential impact on heart rhythm abnormalities.

The research team looked at the impact of different walking speeds while exploring the potential role of risk factors including age, obesity, smoking and alcohol intake.

They analyzed data from 420,925 UK participants for whom walking speed data was available from questionnaires.

The amount of time spent walking at different paces - garnered from activity tracker readings - was available for 81,956 of them.

A slow pace was defined as walking at less than 3mph; steady/average pace as 3– to 4mph; and a brisk pace as more than 4mph.

The average age of the participants was 55 while more than half (55%) were women.

Just over 6.5% reported a slow walking pace; 53% an average walking pace; and 41% a brisk walking pace.

During an average tracking period of 13 years, 36,574 of the participants (9%) developed heart rhythm abnormalities, with atrial fibrillation the most common.

Participants reporting a faster walking pace were more likely to be men, and tended to live in less deprived areas, and have healthier lifestyles.

They also had smaller waists, weighed less, had better grip strength, and lower levels of metabolic risk factors, including blood fats and fasting glucose, as well as lower levels of inflammatory activity, and fewer long-term conditions.

After accounting for potentially influential background demographic and lifestyle factors, an average or brisk walking pace was associated with "significantly lower" risks of all heart rhythm abnormalities- at 35% and 43%, respectively - compared with a slow walking pace.

Average and brisk walking speeds were also associated with lower risks of atrial fibrillation (38% and 46%, respectively); and other cardiac arrhythmias (21% and 39%, respectively) compared with those who reported walking at a slow pace.

The researchers said that while the amount of time spent walking at a slow pace wasn’t associated with the risk of developing heart rhythm abnormalities, more time spent walking at an average or brisk pace was associated with a 27% lower risk.

Overall, just over a third (36%) of the association between walking pace and all heart rhythm abnormalities was influenced by metabolic and inflammatory factors.

The findings showed that the observed associations were strongest in women, the under 60s, those who weren’t obese, those who had high blood pressure, and those with two or more long term conditions.

Study author Dr. Jill Pell 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.

"Walking faster decreased the risk of obesity and inflammation, which, in turn, reduced the risk of arrhythmia.”

Dr. Pell, of the School of Health and Well-being a the University of Glasgow, added: “This finding is biologically plausible because cumulative epidemiological studies have shown that walking pace is inversely associated with metabolic factors, such as obesity, fasting glucose, diabetes, and high blood pressure which, in turn, are associated with the risk of arrhythmias.”