Walking: The Philosophers Choice Of Exercise
In his landmark docu-series Civilisation, which traces the artistic history of the West, Sir Kenneth Clark notes in his chapter “The Worship Of Nature” that “for over a hundred years going for a country walk was the spiritual as well as the physical exercise of all intellectuals, poets and philosophers’’, something catalysed by Wordsworth and the Romantic movement in the late 18th century. Fun fact: By one calculation Wordsworth had walked 175,000 to 180,000 miles by the time he reached middle age. But even 50 years before Wordsworth’s birth Immanuel Kant was walking like clockwork, sticking to an immutable daily amble at five in the evening which supposedly he broke only twice in his life, once in response to news of the French Revolution and the other time to obtain a copy of one of Rousseau’s works. Furthermore, Nietzsche was absolutist in his assertion that “only those thoughts which come from walking have any value”, further exhorting his reader to “not believe any idea that was not born in the open air and of free movement”. Additionally. Jean Jacques Rousseau penned “when I stop I cease to think; my mind only works with my legs’’ whilst Henry David Thoreau- a 19th century philosopher and essayist who famously went to live self-sufficiently in a cabin as documented in his book Walden- is quoted as saying “Methinks the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow”. All of these great men opted to walk alone, and CS Lewis- the creator of the Narnia series- concurred with the necessity of solitude when he said: “Walking and talking are two very great pleasures, but it is a mistake to combine them”. Similarly, Frederick Gros, author of “A Philosophy Of Walking” concludes that it’s “best to walk alone”.
In short, whether to escape (in Kant’s case), or more often to inflame, thought, many eminent thinkers were enthusiastic walkers, particularly after the dawn of Romanticism but also before this, and I’m sure many will relate to the clarifying effect a stroll can have upon the mind. Continuing, modern science is catching up with this old truth, demonstrating that the benefits of walking are myriad, from improved circulation and cardiovascular health, to an increase in creativity and the alleviation of depression, meaning there’s really no reason you shouldn’t be clocking up the steps each day. In light of this we should all seek to incorporate more walking into our day-to-day life; be it by commuting on foot, going on a walking holiday, opting for mobile meetings or getting out of the office on lunch-breaks for a stroll. If you don’t wish to walk solo, and prefer company, there are plenty of clubs to cater.
Firstly, walking is the simplest and cheapest form of exercise available, and is incredibly low impact. This means it could be the exercise for you if you have knee, back or ankle pain, or if you are overweight and trying to cut down to start running. To reap the most health benefits from walking, the NHS recommends a brisk walk of about 3 miles per hour, which incidentally, according to Robert Mcfarlane in his book The Old Ways about wayfaring, is exactly the pace Danish philosopher Søren Kierkagard believed the human mind would function optimally at. Go figure. In addition, according to the American Heart Association, research has shown that 150 minutes of brisk walking a week can help strengthen the bones thus minimising the risk of osteoporosis, reduce the risk of serious diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and several types of cancer and also improve blood pressure and cholesterol levels among other benefits.
Moreover, beyond the health benefits it can also, as the philosophers were shouting years ago, catalyse thought; A 2014 Stanford Research paper noted “Whether one is outdoors or on a treadmill, walking improves the generation of novel yet appropriate ideas, and the effect even extends to when people sit down to do their creative work shortly after.” This conclusion was reached by four separate experiments, and cleared up whether the environment walked within was not the driving factor for the effects reported. In the first, participants completed both the Guilford’s alternative uses test which is used to measure divergent thinking (vital for creativity), and the CAU test for convergent or systematic thinking. The result? “Walking increased 81% of participants’ creativity on the GAU, but only increased 23% of participants’ scores for the CRA.” The other three results showed similar creative boosts from walking. The paper concludes as follows: “many people anecdotally claim they do their best thinking when walking. We finally may be taking a step, or two, toward discovering why.” And why was the effect on creativity so pronounced? “Walking opens up the free flow of ideas, and it is a simple and robust solution to the goals of increasing creativity and increasing physical activity.” In short, walking allowed the mind to operate associatively and prompted non-linear, free-flow thought. The kind of thinking that could help one overcome a problem by generating new, innovative solutions.
Lastly, a meta-analysis research paper suggests that walking may also alleviate depression, though there were drawbacks to the study. In short, it was a systematic review which trawled 11 literature databases, gathering all relevant research on walking as a treatment for depression to deduce what the results currently suggest. The methods used in the relevant research varied significantly, as did the results, though “Pooling the results of these studies showed that, overall, walking did significantly reduce depressive symptoms.” In short, whilst we may not be able to confidently assert which walking programme is best to alleviate depression, it seems likely that walking certainly does help.
In conclusion, walking is often written off as unglamorous and tedious, but neglect it at your own peril. On the contrary, ambling is a cheap and accessible way to increase endurance, stave off chronic diseases and to prompt creative thought. Whether you are trying to lose weight in a way that’s forgiving on the joints, or overcome a bout of writer’s block, walking offers the perfect solution. When undertaken in the great outdoors, the effects are doubled. To round of this piece, I will give the last work to Kierkegaard, who was more than effusive about the myriad benefits of walking: “Above all, do not lose your desire to walk; every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.”
