Effect of Brisk Walking on Health-Related Physical Fitness Balance and Life Satisfaction Among the Elderly: A Systematic Review

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough the elderly frequently engages in brisk walking as a form of exercise, little has been reported in the literature about the effect of brisk walking on health-related physical fitness, balance, and overall life satisfaction.ObjectivesThe purpose of this systematic review is to determine the effect of brisk walking on the elderly's health-related physical fitness, balance, and life satisfaction.DesignWe conducted a comprehensive search from the PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and SPORTDiscus databases from January to September 2021. We selected studies through PICOS and conducted a systematic literature review according to the PRISMA guidelines.ResultsThirteen studies met all criteria; 11 were classed as low risk of bias, while two were classified as high risk of bias. Generally, brisk walking has been shown to improve cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, and body composition. Limited evidence was presented on flexibility, muscular endurance and development and life satisfaction, and there was conflicting evidence on balance. Moreover, evidence of restriction proves that high-intensity (80–85%) brisk walking is more effective than moderate-intensity (60–75%) brisk walking on the aerobic capacity of the elderly. Furthermore, there was less research conducted on males.ConclusionBrisk walking has been shown to improve cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, and body composition. Other outcomes (balance, flexibility, muscular endurance, and life satisfaction) and the impact of the intensity of brisk walking on the elderly should be confirmed. Therefore, there remains insufficient research on brisk walking, while single brisk walking cannot meet requirements of elderly in terms of their health-related physical fitness, balance, and life satisfaction. Future research should aim to examine the effectiveness of combining several types of exercises to promote general health in the elderly, as the World Health Organization recommends. Unintelligible FITT (frequency, intensity, time, type) principles of brisk walking training should be trenched for the results of scientific and effective physical exercise.

Effects of functional limitations and activities of daily living on the mortality of the older people: A cohort study in China

“…Higher prevalence of functional limitations could be associated with the absence of physical activities in the older people, and this study showed that about three quarters of them lacking physical activities in daily life. Previous studies have proven that physical activities could improve cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, body composition, balance, flexibility, and muscular endurance in the older people (31). Hence in the future, more access to physical exercise should be provided to the older people to strengthen their functional health.…”

Influence of Walking as Physiological Training to Improve Respiratory Parameters in the Elderly Population

“…Walking as a way of improving the health of seniors has been studied already for a long time. The beneficial effect of walking on various body systems has been demonstrated in many studies over the years [25,[46][47][48][49]. Many of the literary resources therefore agree that aerobic exercise in various forms, including walking, positively affects the lung function in seniors [37,40,50].…”

Training and retention effects of paced and music-synchronised walking exercises on pre-older females: an interventional study

“…Adults are recommended to walk 10,000 steps per day to maintain good health [ 8 ]. Further, the World Health Organization recommends 150–300 minutes of moderate to high intensity or at least 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical exercise per week [ 9 ]; however, determining the optimal frequency, intensity, time, and type (known as ‘FITT’) one should perform a particular exercise can be difficult [ 10 ]. For healthy adults aged 41–85 years, a step frequency of 100–130 steps/min and 2000–9000 steps per day has been found to produce an optimal exercise level of 3–6 MET [ 11 ].…”

“…Paced walking (or brisk walking) represents walking at a brisk pace, usually 120 steps/min or greater, and is recognised as a suitable form of cardio workout [ 15 ]. A previous systematic review has demonstrated that a brisk-walking intervention can improve cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, and body composition in older adults [ 10 ]. On the other hand, music-synchronised walking (or beat-synchronised walking) refers to walking at varied cadences in time with musical beats.…”

“…Walking is an appropriate physical exercise for reducing the risk of osteoporotic fractures, as it can help increase muscle strength and dynamic balance (e.g. by increasing step length) [ 10 ]. Overall, among the pre-elderly population physical activity has been found to affect physical fitness, physiological biomarkers, physical-activity behaviour, and quality of life in older age [ 20 , 21 ]; therefore, understanding healthy behaviour and long-term retention effects is imperative.…”