Walking for Mental Health – It is well known that exercising can improve your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. You can read more about how and why exercise has a positive effect on us in our blog Exercise & Mental Health – Developing a Practice.
Exercising can make us more resilient, lift our mood, reduce stress levels, help with depression, give us a confidence boost and help us sleep better. Deciding to go to the gym or a sports club or exercise class can be intimidating, this blog considers the simplest and possibly most underrated form of exercising, walking! According to the Mental Health Foundation:
Why Walk?
- Walking is free
- You don’t need any equipment
- You can do it in the town, city, suburbs or the countryside
- Walking can be social
- You don’t need training
- You can do it every day
- You can walk for a purpose – you can walk to work, to run errands, go to the shops, meet friends.
- You can do it in any weather – you might need a raincoat, snow boots or sunscreen but most of the time going for a walk is possible.
- You are closer to nature – you can walk in woodlands or parks, you can feel the sun on your face.
- You can start straight away!
Developing a Walking Practice
If exercise and walking is not already part of your routine you might want to start off slowly. Below are some ideas of how you can begin.
- Decide how many days a week you want to walk. Maybe it will be every day, maybe five days a week or maybe just two or three.
- Decide what time of day suits you best, is it better for you to get up early and walk or wait until you are back from work and walk in the evening.
- Plan your route. If you are just beginning to incorporate walking into your routine you might want to start off just walking round the block once or twice. If you are more confident you might plan a route of half an hour or an hour.
- Think about different routes. For some people walking the same route every day is what they want to do, for others they might want variety, have a few different routes you can take perhaps that suit different weather conditions. Think about if you have any errands you want to incorporate into your walks, like going to the shops or posting a letter.
- Consider walking with a friend or a group of people.
- Some people enjoy walking while listening to music or an audio book. For other people walking meditatively might be the right decision, paying attention to everything around them, really seeing and hearing everything.
Be flexible, there may be days where you really don’t feel like going out. In those cases don’t push yourself too hard, consider a shorter walk or an indoor walk. There are lots of indoor walks on YouTube you can do. Lucy Wydham Reed has a few indoor walks that I have found helpful. Or take a day off, having a day off from time to time means that walking doesn’t become a chore.
I started my walking practice over two years ago. To begin with I found it hard to walk for half an hour, but over time my stamina and fitness has increased and I am walking my 10,000 steps in one go, most days I walk for an hour or an hour and a half. I find so much pleasure in walking and feel better in myself. I notice the difference if I don’t go for a walk for a few days.
Paul offers Psychotherapy and counselling, EMDR and Clinical Supervision. If you are struggling with any issue and would like to make an appointment with Paul please call Paul on 07843 813 537 or fill in the form on the Contact Page, if he doesn’t answer he is probably in a session, please leave him a message and he will call you back as soon as he can. For more information about Paul please take a look at the About Paul Page, Frequently Asked Questions Page and The Counselling Services Page.
