Take a Walk: Pace Predicts if Male is Falling in Love

Want a true test to see if your man is falling? Just start walking. A new study shows that men tend to walk slower when they're with their beloved.

According to recent research, males tend to slow down by as much as 7 percent when they take a hike with female romantic partners.

The study authors found that males walk at a significantly lower pace in order to match the females' paces, only when the female is their romantic partner. The study also showed that the paces of friends of the same sex did not significantly change unless a romantic element was involved.

"By men slowing down, the female reproduction is protected, and that's not something that is trivial," lead author, Cara M. Wall-Scheffler,of the University of Washington, Seattle said, via the Los Angeles Times. "There is so much data that when women are able to reduce the amount of energy they spend walking, they have more children."

Many find this information rather surprising as some people have an optimal walking speed that minimizes energy expenditure and speed value that varies with physical features, including mass and lower limb length. This may explain why males typically have faster walking speeds than females.

These findings could potentially provide new insights into both mobility and reproductive strategies regarding an evolutionary strategy that may improve the chances of producing children.

What do you think? Has love been a walk in the park for you? 

More information regarding the study can be found via the journal PLOS One.