Do we really feel better after daily walks?
Let us not forget that daily walks have saved many boring days in isolation. Regular walking is advice that reappears over and over again.
Can every day spent walking really change your life? Self-care tips have become repetitive, to say the least. We’ve all heard it all before, ‘take a bath in a bubble bath’, ‘set boundaries’, ‘write a diary’ and most fertile of all - ‘go for a walk’. Perhaps rightly, such statements have been dismissed as platitudes that only serve to cover up the deeper issue of the lack of affordable mental health care.
And indeed, a bubble bath will never be a substitute for therapy or medication. But a daily walk is one piece of advice that keeps coming up. And, let’s not forget, it was these daily walks that saved many boring days in isolation, offering solace from everyday life, being stuck indoors for who knows how long and allowing us to reconnect with the world around us.
So what's the secret? Do we really feel better after daily walks? How easy is it to weave them into your routine? What are the benefits of a daily walk?
Clinical psychologist Gemma Harris is persistent in her daily walks. She explains that walking, as well as exercise in general, has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety while improving cognitive function, sleep, and memory.
Walking makes us feel good
“This is because, first, oxygen saturation and blood vessel growth occur in areas of the brain that are associated with rational thinking as well as social, physical, and intellectual performance,” Harris explains. " Second, exercise reduces stress hormones and increases serotonin and norepinephrine, chemicals in the brain that are known to speed up information processing. During and after exercise, endorphins and dopamine, responsible for feeling good, are released into the body and brain and usually have an effect on improving mood."
Walking can help clear the mind
A special advantage of walking is that it is mutually stimulating, which can lead to a clearer mind. Bilateral stimuli occur in a rhythmic pattern left and right, such as walking or following a tennis ball with your eyes. There are evidence-based psychological treatments, such as desensitization and reprocessing of eye movements, that take advantage of the positive impact of bilateral brain stimulation on mental health, and walking is a very simple and affordable way to do so.
"It is believed that if we process information while bilaterally stimulating the brain, we maximize our processing capacity, which means that thinking and solving problems are far more effective when we walk " explains Gemma.
Walking increases energy levels
Walking can also give you a much-needed energy boost, explains senior therapist Sally Baker, adding that walking improves blood flow through the body and brain. It encourages people to feel more energetic due to increased levels of oxygen-enriched blood flowing through the body.
- It is important to remember that physical activity does not have to be intense to be generally considered useful in reducing the risk of clinical depression, walking can be quite enough - notes Sally.
How long should I walk?
Going for a walk doesn’t have to take away a lot of your day or even a lot of energy. According to Sally, a short, easy walk is enough to get your brain moving. The hike, to feel its benefits, doesn’t have to be ‘trekking’, she says, but it should be at least 20 minutes as it takes time for ‘well-feeling hormones’ like dopamine and serotonin to be stimulated and released.
