A walk in the woods

"If you want to know if your brain is flabby, feel your legs." – Bruce Barton 

So, we are deep into 2023 already, how is that exercise resolution working for you? Not to worry, this article looks at a simpler but more profound view of exercise.  

Getting to a more healthy lifestyle doesn’t need to be complicated, as Dr. Michael Joyner of the  Mayo Clinic opines, “I personally think that brisk walking is far and away the single best  exercise.” The Mayo Clinic website says regular walking can help manage heart health and  strengthen bone and muscle. 

Joan Welsh remarks, "A man's health can be judged by which he  takes two at a time: pills or stairs." 

Gretchen Williams writes in What’s the Best Exercise, “Walking has also been shown by other  researchers to aid materially in weight control. A recent seminal study found that when older people started a regular program of brisk walking,  the volume of their hippocampus, a portion of the brain involved in memory, increased  significantly.” Who among us couldn’t use a bit more brain? 

A number of studies have linked a community’s average health to the availability of sidewalks,  trails, and recreation space. Shelby County in its new Comprehensive Plan for Development notes, “When asked what amenities they felt were most needed in the County, shared-use  paths and multi-use trails for walking and biking were the number one priority for survey  respondents.” Developers have recognized this sentiment: all of the new neighborhoods in the  Dunnavant Valley area have some combination of sidewalks and/or trails.  

The mechanics of walking couldn’t be simpler: just get some good shoes then hit the trail. The brisker the pace the better health-wise. Some walkers enjoy listening to music or a podcast. (But be aware that noise cancellation ear-ware can block sounds you need to hear like traffic, shouts, or other warnings.)  

If your walk is not on a paved sidewalk, choose the trail with care. Good walking trails are  graded to remove trip hazards and have a prepared surface, e.g. fine gravel, because mud is  messy and slippery. Walking trails differ from hiking trails which have more challenging  topology and are typically earthen. Shelby County has an index of trails at  discovershelby.com/878/Trails. 

A lack of health knowledge is usually not the “stumbling block” for getting  exercise—we all know we should be moving more. A neglected motivator may be emotional health. Walking is good for our sense of well-being as we reconnect with nature and with our neighbors. Søren Kierkegaard writes, “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.” Naturalist John Muir affirmes that in every walk with nature “one receives far more than he seeks."

So lace up your shoes and get outside and walk! 

By Bill Norton, Dunnavant Valley Neighbors