5 Psychological Benefits of Walking

Recently, I had gone through a bout of stress - I had taken on too much work, injured my back, and was generally feeling out of touch with myself. I’ll admit that there were times when I was preaching the importance of self-care to a crowd...in the middle of a 60-hour work week. And the clumps of stress in my body were getting tighter.

This might sound familiar to you. Many people have been experiencing burnout for the past year and a half, and the mental health effects are starting to catch up. I’ve been hearing from many Savvy Psychologist listeners about experiencing poor sleep, having short fuses, feeling exhausted but also bored at the same time...what a hot mess we’ve all been!

Guess what pulled me out of this spiral?

Walking.

That's right, I took my dog on a long walk along the Eno River. When I started, I was mentally planning work projects and stressing out. But then, a great blue heron landed in the water right beside me, and it was so beautiful that I burst into tears. After that, I allowed myself to breathe, to feel the movement of my body, to smile at my dog…and so began my lift out of burnout.

I want to share the magic of walking with you, too. For today’s episode, let’s do something a little different. In addition to listing science-based benefits of walking, I’ll also informally talk you through a mindful walk.

So, if you’d like, you can take this podcast episode for a walk and follow along. Let’s lace up those sneakers and get going!

Start with breath. Wherever you’re walking, let’s start to become mindful by noticing your breath as you walk. No need to change it in any way. No need to count or manipulate the way you breathe. No need to judge whether you’re breathing too fast or wonder what this means. We’re just here to follow along with what the body naturally does.

Walking makes you less angry

Have you ever had an explosive argument with someone and felt so angry you had to just leave the house and start walking? Well, that’s a good instinct! Walking does actually calm anger.

One simple study that put people on a four-week daily walking plan. Not everybody actually walked as much as they were supposed to, but still, participants’ heart rates slowed, and they were feeling less anger and hostility by the end.

Notice your feet. Now that you’ve settled into your breath, let’s expand our attention to the feet. No need to move any faster or slower, or change their movement in any way. Simply notice the ground underneath...

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