Article ID: 2026.020
Texting while walking (use of a smartphone during ambulation) reduces walking speed and induces a forward head posture, which can impair respiratory function, as shown by reduced forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in 1 s under maximal-effort and resting conditions. Whether these impairments increase respiratory load during walking remains unclear. This randomized, crossover pilot study examined whether respiratory and circulatory parameters differed between normal walking and texting while walking under controlled-speed conditions. Ten healthy young adults (five men, five women; median age 21.6 years) participated. They completed a 30 m walking test and a 10 min steady-state treadmill exercise test (4 km/h) under each condition. Respiratory gas analysis was performed using a wearable metabolic system. Walking time for the 30 m test was significantly longer during texting while walking than during normal walking. However, no significant differences were observed between the conditions for the mean values of any ventilatory or gas-exchange variable (e.g., oxygen uptake, minute ventilation, and metabolic equivalents), nor for blood pressure, heart rate, or perceived fatigue. These results demonstrate that texting while walking reduces self-paced walking speed but does not increase respiratory or circulatory load under submaximal, controlled-speed conditions. During steady-state ambulation, healthy individuals operate well within their ventilatory reserves, and forward head posture-induced reductions in peak respiratory capacity may not be detectable under everyday ambulatory workloads. The observed decline in walking speed is more likely attributable to cognitive attentional demand than to physiological burden.
