“The power of walking cannot be underestimated – it is an underutilised weapon in the fight against the abundant stressors of modern life.”
Alex Pedley
This month we have kick started a series of wellbeing tips on our social media aimed at helping you to flourish throughout this year. We’re going to be sharing simple, practical ways that you can engage in some self-care, whether you already have healthy habits in place or you feel like you would like to develop some new ones.
Our first two tips – ‘Get some fresh air’ and ‘It takes ten minutes’ - focus on the benefits of walking for wellbeing. We chose these because walking is simple and something that most of us do as an everyday activity in some form or another. Whilst we recognise that it isn’t applicable to everyone, we approach this topic with the idea that walking can take on lots of different shapes and sizes depending on your mobility.
We also wanted to start with walking because research has shown that there are such a range of benefits to both our physical and mental health when we get walking. As Walking for Health point out, the benefits aren’t just about the one-off feel good factor:
“It improves self-perception and self-esteem, mood and sleep quality, and it reduces stress, anxiety and fatigue. Physically active people have up to a 30% reduced risk of becoming depressed, and staying active helps those who are depressed recover.”
And that is in addition to the mental health improvements that you might see as a result of the physical health benefits of walking.
One thing that we believe is key, and is why we’ve maintained the idea of walking in our second tip – ‘It takes ten minutes’ – is because we want it to be about flourishing through walking. This is where we believe the ‘Ten Minutes Matter’ principle comes in.
Back in September 2019, The Evening Standard released this article by Alex Pedley. He advocates the idea that walking is good for our mental and physical health but he suggests that there is something important about the way we choose to go for a walk.
“Yet, if you go out in the City of London during a normal workday you will see professionals walking while checking their phones. The time spent strolling between meetings and other appointments was once a period of relaxation but is often now spent fully submerged in replying to messages. Instead of switching off we stay very much switched on.”
Sound familiar? In a world where everything is constant, distraction is instantaneous and we can be relentlessly submerged in activity, it takes real discipline to actually stop and switch off.
If you like the sound of making some time each day to switch off, or if it jars against you because you know it would be good for you but you aren’t sure you could, here’s what Alex suggests:
Schedule ten minutes each day to go for a walk, just ten
Leave your phone or other technology in a safe space
Head out, on your own or with a colleague or friend
Focus on what makes your smile and switch off from the demands of the day
If you’re with a colleague or friend, work chat is banned
Give it a go this week. Stop now and book in some ten minute slots for the next few days. And let us know how you find it.
I’ve just been out for a lunch time walk and I made the mistake of taking my phone with me. Twice I got it out my pocket to check Instagram and browse my messages. It took real discipline to make myself not get it out. It has become my norm.
I’m looking forward to seeing how setting aside ten minutes each day impacts my overall wellbeing. If the studies Alex shares in his article are right, then I’m hopeful that I’ll see an improvement in my focus, productivity and creativity too.