Are you not as strong and physically capable as you would like? Around 7% to 12% of Americans 65 and older are considered frail.
That’s when at least three of the following symptoms are true, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine: unintentional weight loss, reduced strength, exhaustion, low activity levels and a slow pace.
Frailty often makes it difficult for older adults to complete day-to-day tasks. But there may be something they can do about it.
Increasing a person’s walking cadence by 14 steps per minute was associated with a 10% increase in functional capacity in prefrail and frail older adults, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One. Prefrailty is the period before frailty, where older adults may experience higher risk of physical impairment, cognitive decline, nutritional deficiencies and socioeconomic disadvantages.
“What we ended up finding was that those who are able to walk faster, particularly at a cadence 14 steps per minute faster than their usual pace, were more likely to improve in their mobility or endurance or function,” said Dr. Daniel Rubin, the study’s lead author.
“In particular, we were targeting to try to really improve (people’s) mobility and their function, just because prefrail and frail older adults tend to be a little bit more limited, at least in the concept of physical frailty,” added Rubin, associate professor of anesthesia and critical care at the University of Chicago.
The study was a secondary data analysis of a primary trial that looked at walking intervention in retirement communities and took place over a span of 36 weeks.
Healthy aging and walking
Whether or not an older adult is frail, mobility is still an important part of healthy aging. By practicing easy strength-training moves, such as walking, you can improve your strength and combat frailty, experts say.
Individuals who regularly incorporate walking exercises in their routines also experience longevity, which is living longer and better lives. Active older adults were 28% less likely to become disabled and were able to perform day-to-day tasks with little to no assistance, according to a 2020 study.
Other benefits include maintenance of healthy weight, reduced high blood pressure, decreased risk for type 2 diabetes and a stronger musculoskeletal system.
“Walking has been associated with the same type of health outcomes as exercise activities (e.g., risk of mortality, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, improved cognitive ageing),” said Rayane Haddadj, a doctoral candidate in the department of public health and nursing at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, in an email. He was not associated with the study.
“Advantages of walking are that it is a simple, low cost, and accessible activity that can be promoted widely to reduce the burden of various diseases and conditions,” he added.
Increasing your walking pace can lower the risk of heart rhythm abnormalities, such as atrial fibrillation, and walking for longer periods of time can have health benefits, such as reducing back pain.
“Even small increases in daily activity can make a difference. Walking more could therefore be a simple yet powerful way to reduce risk of chronic low back pain and other diseases,” Haddadj said.
“I think one of the hardest parts when you’re giving public health advice, when you’re talking about walking, in particular, is what pace to walk at,” Rubin said.
Previous methods used to help older adults follow a moderate intensity walking pace, such as the talk test or tracking heart rate, can be subjective and difficult to track pace or cadence accurately.
“The easiest way is, actually, you can use a metronome on your phone,” Rubin said. “It’s called rhythmic auditory cueing.”
To do this, start by walking at your normal pace for 30 minutes and time it with the metronome. Once you’ve established a rhythm, you can gradually increase your pace by five or 10 steps per minute.
“Some people use music to do that. Music is actually a little harder, unless you have a trained ear to really be able to identify the beat,” Rubin said.
While keeping this pace, older adults could also benefit from practicing conscious breathing, such as breathing through their nose, said CNN fitness contributor Dana Santas, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and mind-body coach in professional sports.
Nasal breathing, which is when you inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth, can help lower blood pressure and improve heart rate variability, according to a 2023 study. Doing so can help prevent development of hypertension.
It’s also important that you maintain good form while walking, such as standing tall and swinging your arms. It will prevent backaches, make it easy to breathe and keep you balanced.
“Walking is a full body movement. It is not just about your lower body. It’s not just one step in front of the one foot in front of the other,” Santas said. “Your arm swing is a huge part involved in the mechanics of walking. So, you want to have an arm swing that’s coordinated with your foot movement, so it’s opposing.”
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