Two of the elderly individuals in my life that I remember as fast walkers died at age 101 and 103 respectively. Dr. A. G. Gaston my former boss walked as if he was running a marathon and Mrs. Fannie Bingham, Tuskegee University’s oldest living graduate before her death in 1997 walked as if she was jogging. What I have discovered was that, like blood pressure and cholesterol levels, the speed that a person feels comfortable walking at can be a tell tale sign of their overall health. 

These two individuals walked fast because they apparently felt good. The body selects a walking pace that is best suited for the individual based on the health of their body systems. As true as the sky is blue, look at any elderly person in your home and observe the pace in which they walk. The time that it takes for Grandma or Grandpa to walk down the hall for a few yards is the best predictor of whether he or she will live five or ten years longer. If they are walking like Tim Conway use to walk on the Carol Burnett show, I suggest you call Cummings Errol Gardner Memorial Funeral Home, Inc. and start funeral arrangements. 

Researchers are now estimating life expectancy based on a person’s age, gender and walking speed. What researchers have found is that folks who normally walked 2.2 miles per hour tended to live the average amount of time expected for someone their age. For every 0.1 meters per second faster, their chances of dying in the next ten years decreased by 12%. 

If you are a 70-year-old man, you can expect to live from seven to twenty-three years. A 70-year old woman can expect to live another 10 or thirty years. The faster you walk will determine which end of that spectrum you fall. So get moving and move quickly.

(Have you noticed how fast our publisher 80+ year old Rev. Al Dixon walks? He walks faster than half the students do at Bellingrath) 

 In the words of my dad, “You must honor the chair whether it is sitting, walking or lying down.”