If you have always believed in power walks for good health, try jogging, as a new study has suggested slow running can be less tiring and more beneficial for your muscles than a brisk walk.

The team, from North Carolina State University noted that walking fast makes the muscle work harder but provides less energy, with this inefficiency ultimately decreasing our stamina, the Daily Mail reported.

However, jogging at a speed of just two metres per second prompted the muscle to change its length more slowly, providing more power even though it isn`t working as hard.

As per study author Gregory Sawicki, the findings also show why the niche sport of `speed-walking` does not have that many followers. `Muscles work too inefficiently to speed walk, so the body turns to running in order to increase efficiency and comfort, and to conserve energy.`

Sawicki added: `Other than Olympic race walkers, people generally find it more comfortable to run than walk when they start moving at around two metres per second - about 4.5 miles per hour.

`The muscle can`t catch up to the speed of the gait as you walk faster and faster.

`But when you shift the gait and transition from a walk to a run, that same muscle becomes almost static and doesn`t seem to change its behaviour very much as you run faster and faster.`

Source: IANS
Image: Flickr/creativecommons mikebaird