People who walk slowly are so annoying. It’s difficult for me to even put into words the dread I feel when I ‘m walking down the hall and run into a toe-dragging menace moving at the speed of a sloth with 10-kilogram weights strapped to its ankles. 
I can’t stand them. Being someone with long legs and purpose, I typically travel at around 7.5 meters-per-second on a good day. I have very little patience for lagginess, and apparently, so does the COVID-19 virus, as medical professionals have found that walking slow increases the average middle-aged adults’ chance of dying from the virus by 3.75-4 percent (“Covid: Slow Walkers .”).  
Walking slow has been decreed as a factor in the rapidity of Alzheimer’s, the spread of prostate cancer and a shortened lifespan if not coupled with a healthy cardio routine. The effect of walking on the mind, especially for elderly people, is helpful for the health of the brain. In a neurological study in 2013, a team of researchers found that the amount of blood flow to the brains of active elderly men was much higher than those who were less active. 
After an experiment taken at the University of Pittsburgh, researchers came to the conclusion that with every 1 meter per second increase in a subject’s gait, came a correlation of a 12 percent decrease in risk of death. In the United Kingdom, the National Institute for Health Research ran a study with the purpose of comparing links between Body Mass Index and the self-reported walking speed with the contractiveness and mortality of severe Covid cases.  
Slow walking can also lead to cardiovascular disease, as found by the British Journal of Health Medicine. Emmanuel Stamatakis, professor of physical activity, lifestyle and population health at the University of Sydney School of Medicine in Australia, is quoted saying: “The main takeaway message is that stepping up the pace may be a good hack to make walking more health-enhancing.” So, for all the toe-draggers out there, picking up your pace may be the best bet for your physical well-being. 
Now, there are some pros to walking slow. One example is that it helps obese people when walking at around 2 miles per hour as it gets your heart beating faster and burns calories, but for most people a speed of 3 to 4.5 miles per hour will elicit a more intense exercise.  
Now that we’ve made it to the end of my never-ending disdain for the Hawaiian-timers keeping me from where I need to be as fast as possible, I would like you, dear reader, to reflect on your walking speed, and how it may affect the people who move with real purpose, as well as how you may be affected physically in the long run because of it.