Your Walking Speed After 80 Could Mean A 50% Lower Dementia Risk

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about how our walking speed aged 45 might be linked to our dementia risk – slower strollers may be more likely to experience faster brain ageing.

In general, changes in walking pace and gait may be considered a potential early sign of cognitive decline.

Now, a paper published in Neurology, comparing “super” vs “non-super” movers in their 80s, found that faster walkers might be as much as 50% less likely to develop cognitive decline than those who moved at a slower pace. 

What is a “super mover”? 

This study looked at almost 4,000 participants without dementia, all over the age of 80. 

The individuals took a timed walking test, and the speediest 9% were deemed “super movers”. Despite a baseline age of roughly 84, they walked as quickly as most people do in their 50s.

After an average follow-up period of 4.4 years, “super movers” saw less memory loss, better cognition scores, and a lower likelihood of developing dementia. 

Speaking to Medpage Today, study author Dr Joe Verghese said: “Super movers appear to represent an exceptional ageing phenotype, with a lower burden of disease, healthier lifestyles, and potentially younger biological age.” 

Our biological age has to do with the “wear and tear happening inside the body at a cellular and molecular level,” and is different to the years we’ve been alive (chronological age).

Dr Verghese added that a “combination of favourable biology, preserved brain health, and lifelong healthy behaviours may help them maintain both mobility and cognition into late life”.

Walking combines multiple brain and body functions

Some experts think that how long we can stand on one leg might be another sign of our dementia risk, partly because it combines our mental and physical abilities. 

Speaking to MedPage, Dr Verghese said a similar process might be at play with walking. 

“Walking reflects the integrated function of multiple systems, including the brain, cardiovascular system, muscles, and sensory pathways,” he said.