It sounds, well mental that just going for a walk can have any effect on our mental health especially when we feel we are in a right shit storm.

But the very act of removing ourselves from our environment and moving makes a huge difference on how we process our situation.

Our physiology changes our psychology, and one of the quickest ways for us to shift our state is by moving.

When we do something as simple as go for a walk we also have lots more stimuli to distract us and create a more peripheral outlook so we can think straighter.

I know for may men it will seem to simple or that when we are stressed to the eyeballs and in the middle of a mental fire fight the idea of simply going for a walk is hard to entertain especially if we are in a sympathetic fight or flight state where we just can not see the trees through the woods.

And like all novel or new ideas theres no point testing them for the first time when the shit is really hitting the fan.

As the saying goes we do not rise to the occasion but we drop to the level of our training.

Experiment with new ideas by testing and conditioning them during mild to midway stressful situation just to practice them and test them.

That way, when the pipes burst you know where the stop cock is – in this case going for a walk.

Here is a article that maybe of further interest in regards to walking.

The mental health benefits of going for a walk can last for 7 hours, according to pioneering new study

And for those prone to anxiety and depression, there’s even more good news…

We have long been aware of the positive effects spending time outdoors can have on our mental health and wellbeing, and now there is an eye-opening new study which has confirmed our beliefs and made that a fact.

The pioneering project has scientifically proven, for the first time ever, that being outdoors has a positive effect on our mental health. We are talking about long country walks, being amongst nature, listening to bird song, gardening and exposing ourselves to the sky (whatever the weather).

On Tuesday 9th January’sBBC Breakfast programme on BBC One, neuroscientist Dr Andrea Michelli was on the sofa talking about the project’s findings.

He explained that, although we have known about the positive link between the great outdoors and mental health for a while, the actual evidence has been poor, due to unrealistic methods of gathering qualitative data.

The new project is based on an app called Urban Mind which has been used to track users’ movements through their mobile devices. It also randomly prompts the individuals taking part to answer questions about where they are, what they can see and how they feel at certain times.

The findings

Overall, the study found a strong link between exposure to nature and wellbeing. But, in addition, Dr Mechelli highlighted two more granular findings that are particularly interesting.

Firstly, the positive effects of a single exposure to nature – for example, a walk, run or stint in the garden – can last for seven hours after an individual has experienced it. This refers to feeling happier and in good spirits.

That means that walking to work in the morning, or taking the dog for a stroll first thing, can really leave you feeling happier all day. Great news.

Secondly, not everyone will have the same reaction after exposure to nature. Most interestingly, those individuals at greater risk of developing mental health issues, including anxiety and depression, benefit more from getting outdoors than others.

This is a really important finding and will be useful in helping patients to overcome their mental health issues. It can help people who are prone to periods of unease adapt their lifestyle to better suit their mental needs.

Dr Mechelli hopes that the project can help to better inform policy and help create diverse treatment plans for patients.

The results are now published in the BioScience journal.

Superpower’ That Makes Us Smarter, Healthier and Happier

In a new book, a neuroscientist digs deep into the brain benefits of just walking around.

Walking probably feels like one of the easiest things you do all day. According to neuroscience, it isn’t really. It’s a superpower. 

Walking is a handy way to get from point A to point B, and it has surprisingly huge health benefits for something so low-key. But what really makes it a superpower, neuroscientists insist, is what happens in our brains when we do it. 

Just crossing the street is pretty miraculous. 

Walking might feel easy, but according to Shane O’Mara, a neuroscientist and author of the new book In Praise of Walking, it’s actually hugely complicated for your brain to pull off. As O’Mara wandered around Dublin speaking with the Guardian’s Amy Fleming recently (hat tip to Kottke), he explained everything your brain needs to juggle for you to go for a stroll. 

On top of the basics like keeping your heart beating and lungs breathing, your brain engages in constant “cognitive mapping” when you walk. Fleming neatly sums this up as “our internal GPS,” the process that keeps you basically oriented with a sense of where major landmarks are and which direction you need to go. When you walk, your brain is doing this without your awareness all the time. The system even works pretty well when you’re blindfolded. (And no, O’Mara insists, GPS isn’t ruining our sense of direction. “That’s absolute garbage,” he says.) 

Then, there’s the whole task of not running into anything or anyone, which involves the social intelligence to predict the actions of others. All of that is on top of what goes on in our conscious brains when we take a walk. Our waking minds are often “flickering between big-picture states – thinking about what we have to do tomorrow, plans for next year, engaging in what is called ‘mental time travel’ – and task-focused work,” O’Mara explains.  

In short, everyday walking is actually an incredibly difficult task. “Robots can’t do this. Getting a robot to cross the road is really hard,” O’Mara reminds us. But for your incredible brain, crossing a busy intersection is a breeze. 

Happier, smarter, and more creative  

All of this makes clear that walking is way more cognitively complex than most of us realize. But it’s not just the hidden difficulty of walking that makes it a superpower. All of this mental gymnastics means simply going for a stroll has incredible impacts on how we think and feel. By exercising so many brain systems, walking works like an antidepressant, an aid to learning, and a huge creativity booster. 

Putting one foot in front of the other loosens us up to make new connections that help spark new ideas. It dampens down the stress and anxiety that keep us from curiosity and learning. It can even change your personality for the better over time. 

In the Guardian article O’Mara “cites a 2018 study that tracked participants’ activity levels and personality traits over 20 years, and found that those who moved the least showed malign personality changes, scoring lower in the positive traits: openness, extraversion and agreeableness.” Sitting around all day can literally make you a grumpier, more narrow-minded person. 

All of which seems like ample evidence to conclude that O’Mara is right. Walking might seem like the humblest of activities, but that’s just a perception problem. Viewed correctly, it’s clearly a superpower, and one that’s easily within your grasp.

BY EMMA-LOUISE PRITCHARDJAN 10, 2018