The Surprising Benefits of Walking

According to studies, regular walking can reduce depression and sadness and improve immune function.

Beautiful autumn scenery awaits those who hike to the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a gratifying reward for hikers and nature lovers. Margaret.Wiktor/Shutterstock

An ancient network of pilgrim paths crisscrosses Europe. They meet at the tomb of St. James in northwestern Spain, like veins leading to a heart. These roads are known as the Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims walk these routes each year, treading the same ground as countless generations of wayfarers before them. The tradition stretches all the way back to the ninth century, when the routes were first established.

These paths have known the songs and steps of untold numbers of pilgrims over the centuries—so many life stories, so many journeys, both spiritual and physical, have intersected with the Camino and settled into the history of the road like dust. Pilgrims on the Camino carry special passports that, over the course of the journey, fill with stamps from historic sites along the routes, as the hikers’ memories fill with stamps of faces, views, experiences, and interior epiphanies.

People walk the Camino for many different reasons. Some walk the Way of St. James as a personal challenge. Others do it to retreat from everyday life and gain deeper self-knowledge or perspective. And some do it for the same reason the pilgrims of the Middle Ages did: spiritual growth and religious devotion.

The road less traveled: pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. Burkard Meyendriesch/Unsplash

A nonreligious, U.S. counterpart to the Camino is the Appalachian Trail, which snakes 2,200 miles through the eastern United States.

“One reason a lot of people do the Appalachian Trail is they’ve had some sort of defeat, and they want some sort of accomplishment,” one hiker who walked the whole trail, who called himself “Mosey,” told The Epoch Times. “[Hiking the trail] remains a feeling that I have of accomplishment.”

Whatever the walkers’ motivations, the perennial popularity of trails such as the Camino or the Appalachian Trail proves the profound rewards of something as simple as walking. Even those of us who haven’t braved the steep, sun-blanched paths of the Camino or the rugged ravines of the Appalachian Trail have likely experienced the therapeutic power of walking.

A decision, problem, or conflict has you knotted up inside; you take a walk to ease your mind. The sunlight trickles gently down through the patchwork of leaves over the road, and the birds softly chatter. Life slows. The rhythm of your footfalls steadies you and directs the tributaries of your thoughts into a single channel. And somehow, when you finish the walk, that knot inside has loosened, maybe even disappeared. You’ve experienced some of the many benefits of walking.

Henry David Thoreau found walking so indispensable to his health that he wrote, “I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits unless I spend four hours a day at least—and it is commonly more than that—sauntering through the woods and fields absolutely free from all worldly engagements.”

Scientific research has reinforced Thoreau’s intuitive grasp of the benefits of walking. Studies have shown that walking can reduce depression, sadness, and anxiety. Sometimes, only 10 minutes of walking are needed to boost your mood. Because walking increases the flow of oxygen through the body and boosts epinephrine and norepinephrine levels, it can also help increase your energy. Consistent walking over time can also reduce cortisol levels, thus mitigating the effects of stress. Researchers have also concluded that walking boosts creativity and lucidity of thought.

All of this helps explain why even a short walk can help you work through problems, decisions, and dilemmas. But in addition to mental health, walking also improves the health of your whole body. A study from Harvard University found that people who walk briskly for one hour per day can reduce the effects of obesity-promoting genes by half. Walking also appears to reduce the risk of breast cancer and joint pain and improve immune function. One study found that people who walked for at least 20 minutes five times per week were sick 43 percent less often than those who only exercised once per week.

Mosey, the Appalachian Trail veteran, said he experienced these kinds of mental and physical boosts during his months-long hike.

“I’m a migraine sufferer,” he told The Epoch Times. “I usually have one or two migraines a month. I never had one migraine the entire five months that I was out hiking.

“You know, there’s a connection. There’s sort of this ... metaphysical connection you have with the land [while walking].”

That the once commonplace practice of a quiet, meditative walk is not so common today is illustrated by the social media trend of “silent walking.” “Silent walking” means just walking without the auditory distractions of music and podcasts, which have become so standard that their absence is worth commenting on. There’s something depressingly funny about the fact that what was considered an ordinary activity for thousands of years now receives a special name and social media hullabaloo. At any rate, at least this social media trend is a healthy and natural one. It even promotes a clear-headed society.

Seniors can often feel a physical or mental boost after taking short walks. Mladen Mitrinovic/Shutterstock

In response to Zeno’s paradox, which claimed that motion is an illusion, St. Augustine said, “Solvitur ambulando"—“It is solved by walking.” Zeno’s argument can appear compelling, but common sense demonstrates the futility of this abstract reasoning. We know motion is real because we can enjoy a walk.

The lesson here is that a concrete experience of reality, such as walking, can sometimes bring more wisdom than endless hypothetical suppositions that are divorced from reality. Of course, the phrase speaks in a wonderful way to all the benefits and beauty of walking described above. Sometimes, the real solution to the conundrums we face is to lace up our shoes and head outside for a walk.

Bigger problems require bigger walks—that’s one reason people tackle a multi-week walk such as the Camino, with all its ups and downs, trials and triumphs. Some call the Camino a metaphor for life. Maybe that’s the real secret of the power of walking: It reminds us that life is a journey. Sun follows rain, and panoramic views greet those who climb steep hills. And maybe most importantly, it reminds us of the importance of putting one foot in front of the other.