Walk your way back to happiness
Never trust a thought that didn't come to you while walking. I read this years ago, now every time I go for a stroll, it ambles through my head.
Walking is regarded as a therapeutic activity; some doctors have been known to prescribe a 30-minute walk six days weekly to those suffering from mild to moderate depression.
We now walk 25 per cent less than we did 25 years ago and the consequences of our increasingly inactive lifestyles are growing epidemics of obesity, inactivity-related heart disease and diabetes. Our mental health as a nation is also in decline. Recent research shows that even with all our contemporary gadgets like iPods and computers, people aren’t any happier than they were 60 years ago. One in four people in the UK now experiences mental health problems in the course of a year.
Mental health isn’t just about avoiding mental illness, it’s about finding the emotional and spiritual strength to enjoy life and also face life’s disappointments and pain. Physical activity is a great mood elevator. Walking is linked to cognitive function such as learning, thinking and remembering. Studies have shown that men who walked less than a quarter of a mile each day were twice as likely to develop dementia as those who walked two miles. A survey by the charity MIND found that 83 per cent of people with mental health problems have used physical activity as a way to reduce stress and improve their mood; by far the most popular was walking.
I’m not a great one for exercise; you’ll never find me in a gym. I tried that, I paid the membership fee and found that I much preferred to stay at home watching the soaps and eating biscuits.
However, since having my baby, I walk every day. That’s mostly because once I get Junior in the pram and trundle him around, he takes his daytime nap and I get an hour of blissful peace.
We’re fortunate to have a large garden, around it snakes a crazy-paving path. I still live in the house I was born in and that path has supported my little legs as I’ve pounded up and down, working out my thoughts and having moments of reflection through my lifetime.
Walking in the garden has helped me make decisions like whether to end a relationship or simply what to have for tea. I stood out there at 6.30am on the morning of my wedding, inhaling the heady scent of roses, which reminded me of my recently departed mum. It felt as though she was telling me that everything would be all right. Also when I was pregnant, I decided while ambling up the path that I was going to turn down the amniocentesis test offered for this over-the-hill mum and take on whatever was to come with baby.
As I walk up and down, I think of those who lived here before, a family who had a fighter pilot son in the war, we found his letters to his mother in the loft. Unfortunately he was killed in his 20s. I wonder if he walked here too, contemplating his future and if his mother paced here, as she tried to come to terms with her loss. I wonder are there invisible footprints imprinted along the path from the feet that have walked before and will mine unnoticeably mingle with theirs and those feet that are still to come?
You get great thoughts when you’re walking; many creative people swear that’s when they get their best ideas. Writer Raymond Inmon claimed:
“If you’re seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes walking.”
So if you’re feeling a bit down, why not try going for a stroll? Who knows, you may be whispered to by an angel? And if you want to forget your troubles completely, try walking in tight shoes!
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Friday 25 May 2012
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