Taking a walk is good for you. I teach people how to walk for pain relief and it is pretty profound how well it works.
It is also a reliably good bet that taking a walk for an hour—at a somewhat brisk pace— three times a week will keep your heart and other body parts in very good health.
At least many, many studies have shown that.
But what about other benefits that might come from taking a walk?
Of late, I am working too much which means I am sitting at my desk for dizzyingly long periods of time.
I mix it up a bunch, sitting on different chairs, standing and even working on my balance board but it still leaves me in my office… a lot.
And when I get stuck for an idea I walk.
It is amazing, ridiculous even, how often taking a walk resolves hours of blockage, and free the creative juices to both come up with ideas and solve problems.
Recently I was reading about children in school and how free time has been profoundly minimized in schools across the country.
There are plenty of schools that don’t offer recess and have kids stuck at their desks for the entire duration of the school day.
And, bless their misguided hearts, they do it in the name of greater productivity.
The study, which I couldn’t find, talked about how creativity doesn’t happen while we work but while we rest.
Work is when the creativity is applied.
I had never thought of it in this way before even though I knew it intuitively.
So if you needed more reasons to add taking a walk to your daily routine add creativity and problem solving to the list.
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