"What is it about walking, in particular, that makes it so amenable to thinking and writing? The answer begins with changes to our chemistry. When we go for a walk, the heart pumps faster, circulating more blood and oxygen not just to the muscles but to all the organs—including the brain. Many experiments have shown that after or during exercise, even very mild exertion, people perform better on tests of memory and attention. Walking on a regular basis also promotes new connections between brain cells, staves off the usual withering of brain tissue that comes with age, increases the volume of the hippocampus (a brain region crucial for memory), and elevates levels of molecules that both stimulate the growth of new neurons and transmit messages between them.
The way we move our bodies further changes the nature of our thoughts, and vice versa. Psychologists who specialize in exercise music have quantified what many of us already know: listening to songs with high tempos motivates us to run faster, and the swifter we move, the quicker we prefer our music. Likewise, when drivers hear loud, fast music, they unconsciously step a bit harder on the gas pedal. Walking at our own pace creates an unadulterated feedback loop between the rhythm of our bodies and our mental state that we cannot experience as easily when we’re jogging at the gym, steering a car, biking, or during any other kind of locomotion. When we stroll, the pace of our feet naturally vacillates with our moods and the cadence of our inner speech; at the same time, we can actively change the pace of our thoughts by deliberately walking more briskly or by slowing down."
- Ferris Jabr, Why Walking Helps Us Think
Walking - Quotations, Sayings, Comments
I love this. I am a 'walker'. I try to do one four or five day hike each year but COVID had stopped that for the last two years. But each day I try to do at least a one hour walk. I am also a bit of a writer - and I get my best thoughts while writing. I was working in a large secondary school many years ago and had to write a column on spirituality each week. If I sat at my desk - thoughts rarely came or if they did it was like getting blood out of a stone. So I got into the habit of going for a long walk - mulling over what I would write - and then, put it down as soon as I returned home. Most times it worked. Thank you for this wonderful insight piece.
ReplyDelete