Walking faster may reduce your risk of abnormal heart rhythms, study finds – CTV

April 18, 2025

You may be able to lower your risk for developing heart rhythm abnormalities by speeding up your walking pace.

That’s according to a large new study published Tuesday in the journal Heart, which found average or brisk walking paces were associated with 35 per cent and 43 per cent lower risks of all heart rhythm abnormalities studied, respectively, compared with a slow pace.

Those abnormalities are the arrhythmias: atrial fibrillation, bradyarrhythmias and ventricular arrhythmias. Atrial fibrillation, or A-fib, is the most common arrhythmia, characterized by an irregular and rapid heartbeat beginning in the upper chambers, or atria, of the heart. Bradyarrhythmias are abnormally slow heart rates of typically below 60 beats per minute, compared with the normal range of 60 to 100 beats per minute. Ventricular arrhythmias occur when the lower chambers of the heart, or ventricles, beat too fast.

“The great thing about walking is that it is accessible to everyone,” said senior study author Dr. Jill Pell, the Henry Mechan Professor of Public Health at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, via email. “You don’t need to spend money going to a gym or buying equipment. You can just walk out of your front door and keep going.”

Read more: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/article/walking-faster-may-reduce-your-risk-of-abnormal-heart-rhythms-study-finds/