The Current - What's a supermover, and why should you become one?

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

If you're pushing 80 and still walking as fast as your 50-year-old friends, you might be a supermover. New research on 'supermovers' - people 90+ who walk faster than their ageing peers - have a 50 percent lower chance of developing cognitive decline as they age. Plus, their brains are bigger.

This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. We're just going to wait one minute until... Okay, one minute and do they come? Hey, nobody waits for the rest of us. They would wait for you. No, you wouldn't. They set out at 10 a.m. sharp.

It is a sunny Tuesday morning in East Vancouver. Around 30 people are gathered in a grassy field behind a preschool, and they are prepared, wearing running shoes, sunhats, carrying snacks and water, and then at 10 a.m. Sharp, they walk. On our map, it says we are at the 4.0.0. The Vancouver Venturers is a walking club. Most people here today are in their 70s.

Don't be fooled by their age, though. They walk fast, and they know it. You know, I do membership for the club, and so I make a point to walking with newcomers when they come, and that's the most common comment I get is, boy, you guys walk fast. The tour is a few people. though. Yeah, sometimes. A few people will come and say, well, it's too fast a pace for me. I'd rather slower and look at the flowers or take pictures.

But we're out for the exercise. To be able to do 10K and 2 hours at my age is really something and something I'm proud of and something I want to keep on doing. I just had surgery for cancer just over four weeks ago, and I'm back out walking 10Ks again, so I'm happy. Well, I do it for the social part, the exercise part. And we go for lunch after, too. Yeah.

Well, I think it really helps the walking and the socialization and just the different subjects you cover with people. I think the cognitive skills improve as you get older. And I can't say enough about it. Researchers call these folks, like the people who are out walking in East Vancouver, supermovers. New research has found the faster you walk as you get older, the less likely you are to develop cognitive decline.

Dr. Sophia Milman is a professor in the Department of Medicine and Genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. She's one of the authors of the study. She's in New York City this morning. Dr. Milman, good morning. Good morning. What do you make of the superwalkers we just heard from in British Columbia? I love it. They're really exemplifying what the study has found.

What exactly is a super mover? A super mover is defined as someone who is age. 80 or older, and their walking speed is at about the top 15% or 10% for their age group. How fast is that? I mean, we heard those walkers saying that they're not slowing down to look at the flowers or taking pictures. How fast is fast? So in the study, we found that supermovers walk at about 1.3 meters per second.

And if my calculations are correct, these individuals are walking as fast as supermovers. And so understanding the definition of what a super mover is, what did you want to understand in this study? And how did you go about looking at the benefits, the cognitive benefits of walking quickly? Our goal was to understand whether supermovers are protected from cognitive decline. And in order to figure that out, we studied different groups of individuals and identified those who are supermovers. and then subsequently evaluated their cognition, their brain size, and their propensity to develop Alzheimer's disease pathology in their brains. And what we have found was that supermovers were about 50% less likely to develop cognitive

decline. And their portions of the brains that are responsible for memory, the hippocampus, were larger. 50%. That's a huge number. Yes, it is indeed. were quite surprised by that finding as well. Tell me more about that. What actually is going on in the minds of the supermovers? We believe that walking may be a reflection of overall good health and delayed aging in general.

And so if someone is able to move faster, it's also possible that their brain is healthier and their overall healthier. So that was one hypothesis that we have. Another hypothesis that walking itself is actually protective, as suggested by the segment that we just heard. And that may be true because we do know when people exercise muscles actually release chemicals that seem to be neuroprotective. One such chemical is called BDNF or brain neurotrophic factor. And that can actually help the neurons in the brain function better and preserve cognitive function. One of the things, and just tell me if I'm getting this right, but one of the things I was reading about this study was that you found that in some of these supermovers, there are still the signs of Alzheimer's and dementia in their brains, but there aren't symptoms. Is that right?

Yeah, in one of the subgroups, the investigators looked at actual abnormal proteins that can accumulate in the brain of patients who develop Alzheimer's. and they found that indeed some of these supermovers did have these abnormal accumulations in their brains that are indicative of Alzheimer's disease, and yet their cognition was intact. They weren't clinically exhibiting any symptoms of Alzheimer's. And so this suggested to us that they're resilient, despite developing these abnormalities in their brains, they're still able to maintain their function, and so they're able to resist this negative impact of, on Alzheimer's pathology. How do we know that this is about walking?

And I guess what else might be going on that would that would lead those who are very active to not be manifesting the symptoms of Alzheimer's or dementia? You know, this was an observational study. And so we cannot 100% conclude that walking itself protected them. We'll need to do additional research to determine whether it is walking itself. A lot of research has shown so far, though, that being physically active and exercising is protective for our brains. So we definitely have some evidence to support that. And we do need to do more research.

This also picks up on research that was done and observations that were done years ago, right? And it's, I guess, going in the opposite direction. The people who had a slower gait in some ways were linked to poor health. What do we know about that and how this kind of builds on that research? Again, we really have to think about the body as a whole. And, you know, our gait may reflect overall aging processes. And our brain is certainly not separate from our physical health. All of our body systems are interrelated.

Therefore, if someone has slower gait, it may be a marker of general health decline. And on the flip side, if someone works faster, this may be a marker of overall better general health. One of the things we heard in those clips from the folks in East Vancouver and the Vancouver Venturers is that they enjoy walking together. And maybe that means that you have to arrive on time to be part of the group, but they like to be part of a group. How important is the social aspect of activity for brain health?

Yeah, that's a really important question. We do know that social activity in it of itself is protection. for the brain, and we know that exercise is protective for the brain. Now, the question is if you do exercise in a group, and if you combine both social interactions and physical activity, are you going to derive additional benefits? We suspect that the answer is yes, that walking by itself is protective, social activity is protective, and when you combine them together, it may actually be even better, so these people may really be on to something.

It's so interesting because, again, we know that whether you're doing the wordle or Sudoku or something like that, that we have been told for a long time now that exercising your brain is a good way to stave off some of the side effects of getting older. But this is just about exercise generally. So how can somebody pick this up? At what point in time can somebody become a super mover? So the study doesn't answer this question. However, we have evidence from other studies that suggest that. it's never too late. In fact, there were studies that showed that older adults who began to exercise have

actually derived quite a bit of benefit and maybe even more so than their younger counterparts, especially if they were able to be consistent with it, maybe easier for older adults to be consistent with exercise. Most of them may be retired and they may have more time. And so the takeaway is really that it's never too late to start. If somebody wants to start, do you have, again, you're not a physiotherapist or an exercise guru, but you're somebody who has studied this. What advice would you give to somebody who wants to become a super mover?

They hear the evidence here, and they think I should take advantage of that. So I would say that if you're not walking yet, start walking at whatever pace is comfortable for you. If you are already walking, see if you can walk more frequently for longer or at a faster pace. And if you can walk faster, do it, but make sure you're doing it in a safe way. I'm always interested in whether the people who do this research take it to heart themselves. Are you now walking faster as you get older because of what you have learned in this research? I think I've always been a fast walker because I feel like I'm always rushing, but this gives me even more reason to continue doing that.

And to keep it up as you get older. Yes, that's right. This is so interesting. We will see whether we end up, you know, anecdotally seeing people in groups walking faster because of what you have learned in the meantime. Dr. Milman, thank you very much. My pleasure. Thank you. Dr. Sophia Milman is a professor in the Department of Medicine and Genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

Those are your marching orders. March quickly, she says. This has been the current podcast. You can hear our show Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30 a.m. at all time zones. or you can also listen online at cbc.ca.ca.ca.com or on the CBC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.