It's all about calories. Scientists have found out why older people move more slowly
Elderly people not only walk slowly, but also generally lose the ability to perform actions quickly. This is due to the fact that people's muscles consume more calories while moving during aging.
This conclusion was reached by scientists at the University of Colorado at Boulder (USA) during an experiment. The results of the study were published in The Journal of Neuroscience (JNeuroscience).
More than 80 people took part in the experiment - young (18-35 years old) and old (66-87 years old). Initially, everyone was given a simple task - to move the cursor on the screen to the desired location. But they had to use a special device, which required more energy to operate.
Scientists monitored the participants' reaction speed during the experiment and recorded the amount of energy spent on the task. It turned out that older participants needed more energy.
Older people compensate for slow movements by reacting quickly.
Source: pexels.com
In the second stage, the subjects were told that they would receive a reward for completing the task quickly. As a result, both groups improved by 5%.
But for the young people, this was due to an increase in movement speed, and for the elderly, it was due to an increase in reaction time. That is, representatives of the elderly group started the task a little earlier.
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