Heart arrhythmia, or an irregular heartbeat, happens when your heart beats with an irregular rhythm. Electrical signals control the contractions of your heart, and disruptions and irregularities can be benign, but, in some instances, they can lead to complications like heart failure and stroke. There are different types of arrhythmias, including the more common atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia.
Some factors can cause or worsen heart rhythm irregularities, such as underlying heart disease, certain medications, and caffeine and alcohol consumption. At the same time, some factors can improve this problem and lower your risk of heart rhythm issues. Recently, researchers wanted to explore how walking impacts these heart rhythm abnormalities, especially given the growing research on the benefits of walking for your health in general. Let’s look at the research.
The study
In the study published in the journal Heart, researchers wanted to understand how walking duration, frequency, and pace affected the risk of developing heart rhythm abnormalities. The researchers assessed data from 420,925 participants in a medical database, and nearly 82,000 of those provided data from activity trackers so that researchers could confirm their speed.
Over the 13-year study period, 9% or 36,574 participants were diagnosed with heart rhythm irregularities. 23,526 of those had a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation, and about 19,000 developed other types of arrhythmia.
The results
The researchers concluded that:
- Walking at an “average” pace of about three to four miles per hour reduces the likelihood of an arrhythmia by one-third.
- Walking at a brisk pace of over four miles per hour presented an even lower risk.
- The faster walkers tended to be men who had healthier lifestyles overall.
- The faster walkers also weighed less, had a smaller waist circumference, better grip strength, and lower metabolic risk factors.
- Those who walked at a more brisk pace of over four miles per hour also had lower levels of inflammation and fewer chronic conditions.
- Compared to the slower walkers who strolled along at less than three miles per hour, those who walked at an average pace of three to four miles per hour had a 35% reduced risk of heart rhythm abnormalities.
- Those who walked at a brisk pace of over four miles per hour had a significantly reduced risk of 43%.
The researchers noted that metabolic or inflammatory factors could explain about 36% of this link.
What to walk away with
The takeaway from this observational study is that walking at a pace of at least three miles per hour or faster could lower your risk of heart arrhythmias and help you maintain a normal heart rhythm. As they say, you can march to the beat of your own drum and gradually increase your walking pace over time. More research is needed to come to clearer conclusions but given the many benefits of walking and movement in general, it makes sense that it’s good news for your heart rhythm, too. Time to put one foot in front of the other.
