Take a walk

Elysha is taking a walk with a friend this morning.

This may very well be the best decision of her week.

Walking has a long list of scientifically-proven physical and mental benefits. It’s perhaps the easiest, absolutely free habit to level up your entire life.

Just a tiny sampling of the benefits of walking:

• ​Stanford researchers found that walkers performed significantly better on tests measuring creative divergent thinking during and after walks. In fact, walking boosted creative thinking by an average of 60%, and the benefits lasted well beyond the walk itself.
• Researchers in Illinois found that children exhibited improved cognitive performance after 20 minutes of walking (vs. 20 minutes of sitting quietly).
• University of Hong Kong researchers showed that walking side-by-side led to deeper feelings of connection, implying that walking meetings may actually create better outcomes.
• Short daily bouts of walking have been shown in various studies to reduce all-cause mortality risk and the incidence of strokes and heart attacks.
• A NeuroImage study in June 2021 showed that daily walking may improve white matter plasticity in older adults, meaning improved memory retention curves.

In a 2016 New York Times article, journalist Gretchen Reynolds commented on a study that compared the impact of long bouts of office sitting with various degrees of standing and walking interventions.

The group that took a 5-minute walk at the top of every hour exhibited the strongest positive response:

“When the workers rose most often, they reported greater happiness, less fatigue, and considerably less craving for food than on either of the other days. Their feelings of vigor also tended to increase throughout the day, while they often had plateaued by early afternoon after walking only once in the morning.”

Walking has also been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer, ease joint pain, improve immunity function, improve sleep, improve your sex life, and improve mood.

Add a little bit of nature to your walk – some trees, a little birdsong, and maybe a flower or two – and the mood-enhancing benefits of a walk skyrocket.

I think this is important to remember because, so often in life, people are drawn to complexity to solve their problems.

Yes, you can don your Lululemon Athletica super suit and spend an hour in a hot yoga class, followed by a smoothie detox under the care of a local guru while you simultaneously access the wisdom of a Hindu God by meditating in a room filled with the scents of aromatic candles and sandalwood incense in order to improve your health and mental well-being.

Or maybe you could just take a walk.

So often in life, people turn to complexity because it feels more potent, more powerful, and more purposeful.

Purchase a membership. Don your lycra super suit. Go to a well-appointed place. Listen to a curated selection of music. Learn from an expert. Do something new.

There’s nothing wrong with any of this, especially if it makes you happy, but so often in life, the simplest of things, like a walk, are discounted for their simplicity, when they can truly be the best things we can do for ourselves.

Eat a banana. Do some push-ups. Pet a cat. Read a book. Look at a tree. Go for a walk.

It doesn’t take much to make a big difference.