Das Gupta: "The preferred walking speed is the walking speed that people choose in everyday life, for example when they go to a train station or a supermarket. After conducting walking tests on normal overground surfaces, we performed tests on the treadmill at the same walking speed. We see that - although there are no differences for young people - older people do have a higher MCoW on the treadmill, compared to walking on normal overground surfaces. We repeated this in a follow-up study, with the same results.”
Difference with previous research
A review of the literature shows that MCoW increases with age. This leads to the elderly becoming fatigued quickly, leading to inactivity, loss of mobility and increased sitting. Das Gupta : “So it is very important to understand if and why MCoW increases with age. If we understand this better, we can develop interventions to increase mobility in the elderly.”
Healthy into old age
The results of Sauvik 's research suggest that active, fit, healthy people, who are able to perform their daily tasks independently, can remain healthy into old age. Das Gupta: “We think that the older participants in our studies were relatively fit and healthy. As a result, they walked at a comparable speed to the younger participants and also had a comparable MCoW. This would mean that these people can lead an active and fit life even after the age of seventy and become less tired while walking.”
Sauvik Das Gupta 's research illustrates the importance of staying active and fit from a young age so that you can reap the benefits later on. Besides walking, it is known that cycling also keeps people youthful. Das Gupta : “In any case, exercise remains important and walking is a very nice exercise to try to stay fit and healthy. For the elderly, it is important that they do not, or not often, walk on a treadmill, but possibly on normal overground surfaces such as outside on the streets or in nature.”
For older people to stay healthy it may be better to walk outside
4 April 2023
Although existing research suggests that metabolic energy expenditure (MCoW : energy per meter traveled, per kg body weight) increases as people age, it appears that during normal walking (at preferred walking speed) there is no difference in MCoW between healthy young people and the elderly. When tested on a treadmill, the elderly do have an increased MCoW. The anxiety that people can have about walking on a treadmill has no influence on this. This is shown by the research of sports scientist Sauvik Das Gupta.