I'm a naturally fast walker. Plus I used to walk from one in-company English course to another as part of my plan for keeping fit. I used to do 55 km a week - and then maybe another 20 km or so on Sunday with the walking group. However, I've slowed down. I used to walk 7 km an hour.. it's now down to about 6.5 km an hour.

t, Duesseldorf, Germany

"Getting more done" is a seductive but insidiously dangerous mindset. Excessive focus on "accomplishment" is a sure way to displace BEING, which is the actual point of living. Yes, we want to accomplish things, and need to act. But failing to live fully in the here-and-now while doing what we're doing is actually throwing away the short amount of time we have... sacrificing a rich experience of living in service of mere concepts about the future.

Bad trade.

Les Matheson, Yorba Linda, CA

Try walking the pavements of Andorra la Vella on a summer evening and you'll understand the meaning of "waddle".

Dave, KNYSNA,

What a fascinating article. If you stop and take the time to notice the pace of those around you, it's certainly true that the world is speeding up. There's more traffic than ever and the population is getting younger so we all zoom about. Perhaps the lesson here is that we should take a little time to appreciate our friends, family, and a nice glass of wine in the garden! Personally, I am walking faster because my bus is often early and I invariably have to leg it.

B D Coche, London,

What a pointless experiment! I hope this research was not funded by public money because even a child could coin the phrase time is money. Any body who has been to big cities like Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore etc. would notice people walk much faster. They do so out of necessity and not by choice. They realise that to excel in today's highly competitive commercial environment, efficiency is absolutely imperative. Also, given the large population living in those big cities if people do not walk briskly there would be ' pedestrian jam' every where. Finally walking fast is possibly the only exercise most white collar workers do as such it should be encouraged.

Wing, Poole, UK

I walk fast wherever I go, because I try to increase my heart rate as a form of aerobic excercise, not because I'm in a hurry

ian, aberdeen, UK

Yes I look at my watch and get frustrated if I'm stuck walking behind dawdlers - but why should I slow down to their speed? I'm naturally a fast walker and I enjoy that. It doesn't mean I'm stressed, just that I want to get where I'm going faster....and often that place is a restaurant where I take time and pelasure eating or to sports training where I can relax and forget the days events.

Lisa, Paris, France

An interesting fact I have often noticed in the London Underground is that when women are walking together they slow down. Two women together walk more slowly than one, and three even slower - creating a significant obstruction in narrow corridors. I have never seen this phenomenon noted or commented on, but I suspect it has to do with maintaining eye contact while talking. Men, unlike women, may often walk together in silence; but even when they are talking to each other, two or three men will walk together as fast as one alone.

Richard Briscoe, London, England

We're walking faster ............. to the grave !!

And hardly notice our lives slip by. We just lost perspective, thanks to a false - and flawed - economics dogma. We ruined the environment, and almost everything positive in our emotional and social fabric. If you really want to shock yourself, just consider how abrasive the world must look to a toddler, with parents who are constantly in a rush. We can only be producing faster paced adults for the world of tomorrow. More speed and efficiency, less feelings. We desperately need a reality check.

Ivan, Valletta, Malta

We are all going to die at some time in the not too distant future you know.

What's wrong with wanting to get as much done as possible in the short time we've got?

mark johnson, Edinburgh, UK

The gradual speeding up of life can go unnoticed. Rational thinking and goal-directed behaviour are powerful forces. There are benefits from management of time in order that more may be accomplished, but there is also value in the introspection possible from a more leisurely pace.

dr venables preller, Warminster, UK

I think we could all use a little longer lunches (at least in the US, where lunch is usually over the desk and eaten very quickly because of work) and actually enjoy what we are eating. I must be like the French because I am always the last person done at the table. I like eating, talking and enjoying myself. People are too rushed to shovel food into their mouths as fast as possible. (No one is going to take it away!) If we could just calm down a little more and take a cue from the more relaxed cultures of this world.

Lis, U.S.,

Since the inception of computers, it would seem that these have been the main cause of impatience - you only have to look at the difference between 'dial up' and broadband.
With this in mind, most, if not all, have access to a pc these days for work/leisure. Mobile telephones add to the speed of delivery of developments, as they can create 'hurried' transactions and decisions that result in road traffic epidsodes of 'road rage' particularly as these are not supposed to be used when driving!
Technology over all, must take some responsibility in the final equation, because before it arrived, people would be encouraged to be patient, calm, understanding and sensitive towards others' needs - these issues are pushed by the wayside in favour of the McD*****s world we are all living in, a 'throw away society,' quantity, not quality!
PS. If computers crash, then we all do, our reliance on using our own grey matter'becomes defunct - ask a child to do a mental arithmetic calculation?

Elaine, Basildon, UK