Beautiful piece. As a person whose life has been transformed by walking, I definitely appreciate the necessity of doing it right. Walking for health is not a joke. I focus on the intensity aspect, highlighting the brisk walk as key to wellbeing.
Thanks for sharing! I've always loved walking but during COVID I ramped up things way up. It's been transformational - time to connect with my partner, exercise (duh), good times with my dog, out in nature, relaxing, too many to list! Now I need to go and when I don't my day feels a little off.
Having lived in Paris for over twenty years, I can confirm that its streets as well as its parks provide a way to be directly connected to real life. It isn't just the act of walking that has had a positive effect on my life, but also the spectacle of people and their pets on city streets, and the vegetation and animals in the parks and paths. Then there's the ocean, walking near it brings us back to the scale of the planet as spacetravel wouls for the scale of the galaxy. Or the mountains, again, bringing us face to face with things larger than our daily lives. We walk between 6,000 and (rarely) 18,000 steps, but as said above, the number is not important, but the quality of the experience. I'm happy to say that I have not owned a car for at least 10 years. We're fortunate to live in a small city where you can walk to most places and have adequate public transportation if there's a reason walking isn't possible or practical. Walking is life, for us.
The Myth of 10,000 Steps: Why Walks Are Good for You – But Not All Walks
Beautiful piece. As a person whose life has been transformed by walking, I definitely appreciate the necessity of doing it right. Walking for health is not a joke. I focus on the intensity aspect, highlighting the brisk walk as key to wellbeing.
I wrote extensively about walking on my Substack, The Healthy Jew - Finding Wellness With Purpose. Check out the post here: https://thehealthyjew.substack.com/p/the-wonders-of-walking
Clarity thru distraction has been a long-held belief. Read, study, load up on data points and then go do something else.
When that ‘something else’ distraction is outdoors, it’s even better.
Thanks for sharing! I've always loved walking but during COVID I ramped up things way up. It's been transformational - time to connect with my partner, exercise (duh), good times with my dog, out in nature, relaxing, too many to list! Now I need to go and when I don't my day feels a little off.
Having lived in Paris for over twenty years, I can confirm that its streets as well as its parks provide a way to be directly connected to real life. It isn't just the act of walking that has had a positive effect on my life, but also the spectacle of people and their pets on city streets, and the vegetation and animals in the parks and paths. Then there's the ocean, walking near it brings us back to the scale of the planet as spacetravel wouls for the scale of the galaxy. Or the mountains, again, bringing us face to face with things larger than our daily lives. We walk between 6,000 and (rarely) 18,000 steps, but as said above, the number is not important, but the quality of the experience. I'm happy to say that I have not owned a car for at least 10 years. We're fortunate to live in a small city where you can walk to most places and have adequate public transportation if there's a reason walking isn't possible or practical. Walking is life, for us.