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Caroline Spalding
Features Correspondent
3:00 AM 5th February 2022
lifestyle

Walking For Wellbeing – It Really Does Work

 
Photo by Emma Simpson on Unsplash
Photo by Emma Simpson on Unsplash
If, like me, you’re still carrying half of Christmas around your middle, you may be considering taking up exercise. And whilst I don’t want just to repeat the oft-quoted benefits of walking, for example, that it can strengthen bones and muscles, improves circulation, or, according to the Journal of American Geriatrics, that walking faster decreases risk of heart failure for older women instead, I’d like to invite you to take a walk, read this more of a testimony to why walking for wellbeing really does work.

Have you ever found yourself at work, or at home, and thought – I just want some quiet? Ever found yourself miserable, beleaguered by the endless pinging of your phone? The obvious choice is to step outside. Here is why it helps, at least for me.

image / pixabay
image / pixabay
Open air gives you space. It gives your mind a metaphorical opportunity to expand into the ether, to give you a wider arena in which to consider the problems you have been turning about in your mind. Without the caged experience of four walls, concerns the dominated every waking moment are liberated, as are you, to take a different perspective. And for silence, that you won’t often find outdoors, but instead, a sense of calm. Your senses are stimulated by all that nature has to offer and something indefinable provides a sense of comfort. You can choose to enjoy this alone, or in company – sometimes you can strengthen the bonds you have with another just by being comfortable in each other’s silent company.

Of course, I’m no psychologist, but I’d come forward as a firm advocate for walking to stabilise a troubled mind. I’ve even read it can help inspire creativity – what’s not to love?

Don’t take it just from me: as we head towards spring, why not try a walk for wellbeing?
Ramblers lead walks for all abilities, find one local to you http://ramblersyorkshire.org/walks/