American living in the UK baffled by one thing Londoners do on a daily basis

An American ex-pat living in London has shared one observation about life in the capital that continues to leave him baffled. The 61-year old has been residing in the city for the past 11 months and now he's taken to Reddit to ask the natives how they are able to maintain one particular characteristic.

"How do Londoners walk so fast without sweating?" he asked in a post. The man went on to elaborate: "I am in reasonably good shape and walk or run 4-5 miles every day in Zone 1. Although I have been trying to walk faster, I am constantly passed by men in suits and women in skirts/heels."

"How do these people walk so fast without sweating like fiends? If I try to keep up, I am soaked within minutes," he also confessed in the AskUK subreddit.

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Among the hundreds of responses, many Brits pointed out cultural and lifestyle differences between the US and UK.

"The answer is you aren’t in as good shape as they are, simple as that, regardless of how much in good shape you think you are," one Reddit user claimed. "But that comes from people in the UK walking a lot more than people from the US all our lives."

A second explained: "As a Londoner walking doesn't really feel like I'm exercising and I love to go at top speed. But on the other hand if we both went for a run I bet I'd be so much sweatier/more red/tired than you. I think the answer is most of us have been walking like this our whole lives."

And a third person pointed out another theory: "London is a young city. It's also a fit city - a lot of those young people work out a lot. Most people are used to walking, the city is built for it. It's a bustling city so people walk fast. People are also acclimatised to the weather. It may seem like they're wearing ridiculous things for the walking but it's suitable for the distance they plan to cover and terrain. Nothings that far anyway and if it is, you get on the tube for a bit."

Offering the man hope, an American woman suggested he may eventually acclimatise. "Fellow American living the UK for 6 years now (42F)," she wrote.

"Your body does adjust as you do it more, but also you kind of learn to stop caring and walk at your own pace. For me, that is significantly faster than people back home when I’m in the US, lightning speed compared to tourists meandering through Soho, but slower than the fastest London commuter in their 20s/30s."

Meanwhile another Brit quipped: "Someone with a clipboard will ask you if they can 'Have a minute of your time to talk about donkeys with cancer who need new hooves' or something. And when you say you have no shrapnel they’ll get out a card reader."

To which the original poster replied: "OK, this explains why they ALWAYS go for me! Thanks for connecting the dots. I will definitely start walking London speed when I spot them."

A study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine earlier this year, found that of 85,000 participants, those who fast walked for at least 15 minutes every day saw a nearly 20% reduction in premature death compared with a 4% reduction among participants who walked slowly for a total of more than three hours a day.