A nice brisk walk, just the thing...no?

What walking speeds say about us

Make up your minds! I thought brisk walking was supposed to be as good as jogging for improving cardiovascular health but apparently not:

The world is walking faster than ever before, according to research by the British Council. So what can we learn about someone who walks quickly?

Things to do**, people to meet.

Rushing around is regarded as an acceptable hazard of city living. But an international study commissioned by the British Council suggests urban populations are walking faster and faster, and putting their health in danger in the process.

Researchers in 35 city centres timed how long it took 70 people unencumbered by phones, shopping and companions to walk 60 feet.Singapore came top of the table, followed by Copenhagen, Madrid and Guangzhou in China. London was outside the top 10 and overall speeds were 10% higher than the previous study in the early 1990s.

"The key conclusion is that the world is speeding up," says Professor Richard Wiseman, who headed the study. "Pace around the world is 10% faster than ever before. That's not great for our health. As people speed up in their lives they are not eating properly, exercising or seeing friends and family. All these things can lead to all kinds of things, especially heart attacks."

Of course, this is utter bollocks. Heart attacks are NOT brought on by the stress of modern living or by having a 'Type A' personality - a fallacy debunked donkey's years ago. But then the good professor knows less about heart disease than he does about juggling, being neither a cardiologist nor an epidemiologist but, rather, a glorified Paul Daniels with a Ph.D - an ex-magician best known for leading an international experiment in 2001 to find the world's funniest joke. I think this research must rank pretty highly in any list of 'jokes' alongside Wiseman himself, of course.

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