Thoughts, get a move on: walks as a self-experiment

I never go on walks. My body actually only knows two physical states: fixed or fluid. Either a tense sprint or being at a standstill, in other words, lazing around for so long that I almost go to pieces. So, going for a gentle walk is an unnatural speed for me. I’m used to either zipping along or not moving at all – no in between.

This all-or-nothing mentality struggles to align itself with my jam-packed life. Recently, that’s meant I don’t get any exercise at all. What with moving house, my job and trying to maintain a life outside of work, going to the gym feels like a chore. And I have enough of those at the moment. There must be an alternative. After all, it’s a slippery slope. Lack of exercise throws your day-to-day balance out of kilter and means you have less energy, less stamina and back problems to boot. When you land at the bottom of the slope, it almost seems impossible to get into a healthy workout routine.

I say this, as I sit stooped over my desk, typing out my theory about moving more on a daily basis. In actuality, I don’t even know what moderate movement is meant to look like myself. Maybe there’s a moment of slowness between sprinting and standing still that I’ve always dismissed as a tedious venture. Could walking be the nicer compromise for hectic days?

Going for a walk: gets your body and mind moving

Friedrich Nietzsche has this beautiful phrase: «Never trust a thought that didn’t come by walking.» It expresses exactly how I feel. For me, exercise isn’t just a physical matter; right from the start it’s always been about mental balance as well. A kind of mental cleansing that goes from the tips of your toes right into the synapses of the brain. Before, it was discipline, performance and consistency that were the main focus of my daily training sessions in boxing, crossfit or half-marathon preparation. These days, my priorities have changed. Exercise shouldn’t make my mind stronger. Instead, the key is to help it release, switch off and stop those racing thoughts. Maybe slow walking will make me think of other things.

Whether going for a walk has the capability to do that, I’m not yet sure. But it’s a different story when it comes to the positive effects walking has on the body. There has been a lot of research into it, which shows this form of exercise stimulates the cardiovascular system, strengthens the immune system, halves the risk of dementia and prevents depression. Another study even suggests that even a minimal amount of walking each day reduces the risk of premature death by 30%. Statistics like that are enough to put you in a good mood. But there is much less scientific evidence for how walking affects our psyche directly and instantly.

More happy, balanced and creative at a walking pace

What we do know is that exercise in the great outdoors reduces stress. In the professional journal «Frontiers in Psychology», scientists at the University of Michigan demonstrated a connection between a 20-minute walk in the countryside and a dramatic reduction in stress via a drop in cortisol levels.

Studies such as this one even point to movement having a positive effect on the ageing brain. In a nutshell, the data confirms that walking keeps our mind healthy.

Researchers honed in on what could almost be described as the most extreme form of walking, hiking, as part of a job for the German Alpine Club (link in German). They weren’t just researching the physical effects of walking, but the mental impact as well. The results are clear. Life satisfaction, humility, gratitude and serenity all increased significantly as a result of hill walking.

Walking to clear your head and lift your mood

But what happens in your body when you go walking? The physical activity ensures improved blood supply to the brain, which in turn provides the nerve cells with more oxygen and nutrients. This facilitates the growth of new cells in the brain. Getting exercise in the fresh air also has a positive effect on your mood. Both the endorphins that are released while you’re walking and the vitamin D store that’s fuelled from the sun help improve your mood.

Numerous «Walk & Talk» options are testament to the fact that going for a walk also helps to get your thoughts in motion. Talking therapy is reportedly more successful when people are walking rather than sitting. When you move your body, entrenched thoughts and assumptions also start to move. It’s no coincidence that the great thinker of ancient times, Aristotle, cultivated his philosophies while walking through the Peripatos (Greek for walkway) of the Lyceum school. The proponents of his school of philosophy even called themselves «Peripatetics», from the Greek «peripatein»: to walk up and down.

What gives your thoughts wings? Gentle walks

Walking can inspire new ideas. This is something researchers at Stanford University have confirmed. They were looking into the connection between movement and creativity. Their study is called: «Give your ideas some legs: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking.» On average, the creativity of the subject group increased by 60% when they walked around while studying. Furthermore, walking has a positive effect on happiness. Researchers’ results suggest that you don’t need extreme sports to boost your mood. Gentle movement alone is enough to make you happier.

Heinrich von Kleist once penned a clever essay «On how we gradually make up our thoughts while we are talking». If you’re free to form your ideas into words while walking slowly, then perfecting your thoughts will work best when going for a walk. That’s probably also because when we’re walking in the great outdoors, we don’t check our phone every 18 minutes like we normally would. That is, if you’re actually paying attention to the beauty of your natural surroundings.

Now we’ve heard a lot about what walking can do for you, both in theory and practice. But taking a completely practical approach, it makes me wonder how these studies relate to me? Can walking make me just as happy as jogging? With the endorphin rush and «runner’s high»? I put on my shoes and head out.

A walk in the late summer Vienna Woods

I couldn’t have picked a nicer time to go for a walk. Late afternoon at the end of summer has something wild and romantic about it. The landscape has recovered from the hot summer. It now smells of rain, the wind is cool and the warm sunlight is orange, just like the first of the falling leaves. I leave my phone at home and take my skipping rope with me instead. It’s a relic from my crossfit days, which now just serves to unleash some childhood joy in skipping. While I’m out, I don’t want to get bored in my world of thoughts. At the same time, I realise that’s basically the whole point: regenerative boredom for my head that’s cluttered with thoughts. But force of habit is strong.

I’m new to the neighbourhood and don’t know my area of Vienna too well yet. Not long ago, I moved closer to the edge of town in order to live nearer to the countryside. So, I’m in a great location for integrating regular walks into my daily routine.

The skipping rope is sitting lightly in my right hand. Maybe that’s why I have a spring in my step. Or maybe it’s down to the cloudless sky and autumnal sun that’s melting the stress from the last few weeks out of my face. The birds above my head also look relieved by the cooler temperatures. Their chirping fills me with a childlike delight in the world.

Self-experiment: pigeons and flower-filled meadows

The first few metres lead me through an allotment. With each step, thoughts fly through my head like comets. Have I missed a deadline? Did I pay all my outstanding bills? When was the last time I went to visit gran in the care home? Admittedly, it’s hard to switch these thoughts off. Each time, I try to turn my attention back to the walk and eventually decide to be conscious of something in my surroundings with every step. The bird on the fence, the sunlight on the treetops or the industrious neighbour who’s sitting and beaming in the middle of their manicured flower shrubs.

At length, I turn into a side path behind a bus stop. This leads unexpectedly to a little grove, which seems to be an offshoot of the Vienna Woods. The path is shaded and beautiful; my thoughts start getting quieter. Clearly, I’ve internalised the sensations of nature so much that my thoughts no longer revolve around my hectic day-to-day life, but instead focus on the things in front of my eyes. My pulse has slowed and my steps are more leisurely. I don’t have a goal, so why sprint?

At the end of the path through the woods, I come to a clearing. Once I get to the top, I gaze across Vienna bathed in orange light. On the edge of the clearing, I see ordinary city pigeons walking through the high grass and flowers. The view is so strange – it’s possible they’re doing an experiment just like me and contemplating their place in the world. Maybe a pigeon’s natural habitat isn’t actually the underground shaft after all, but rather bright fields of flowers.

Verdict: three cheers for lack of intention

I amble back home. The only thing that reminds me of the time is the setting sun. Unfortunately, as soon as I step into my flat, my everyday life grabs a hold of me. But my inner peace isn’t as fleeting. Going for a walk still made me think of other things, at least for a while, and my body feels good for it, too. My back is more upright, my tendons supple and my heartbeat strong.

Once a day, doing something that’s just for me, with no intention other than self-reflection proved to be an unexpected remedy to inner tension. If the studies are to be believed, my cortisol levels are in the basement by now, while my vitamin D is through the roof. But not using the hour’s downtime to beat myself in a sprint actually stirred something else. The thoughts in me and the world around me became sedate. I had time to process my impressions, assess my thoughts and recognise misguided ideas for what they were. And at least for an hour, I was locked out of my thought palace. A wonderfully slow lifestyle and actually very on-brand for Vienna. If nothing else, the composer Gustav Mahler once said of this city, «If the world were to end tomorrow, I’d go to Vienna. Everything happens 50 years later there.»