Scientists have discovered that shorter people burn more energy when they walk than tall people do. By measuring how people of various heights and ages walk, researchers discovered something odd: We all walk the same way, regardless of height. In other words, if you scaled a five-year-old up to adult height, their strides would be exactly the same as the grown-ups. Taller people don't have a different way of walking from short people, nor are their steps more economical.
The real reason why short people burn more energy? Because each of their steps uses just as much energy as a tall person's. They just need to take more steps to cover the same ground.
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Research published in the Journal of Experimental Biology