Walking´s possible effect on the brain

peregrina2000 · Jul 23, 2015

Maybe this is why we're addicted! True, most Caminos have parts that do not fit the "walking in nature" description, but you can't walk a camino without walking in nature!

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/...=Full&region=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article

dougfitz · Jul 23, 2015

Thank you for sharing. It always create some tension in my household to hold the fort that it is better for me to walk in the bush than to the shops. I now have some independent support!

Mike Savage · Jul 23, 2015

Very interesting but not too surprising. Thanks for sharing this!

domigee · Jul 24, 2015

Interesting, thanks!

GettingThere · Jul 24, 2015

Thanks, @peregrina2000 this is very interesting.

What might be an interesting next step for the researchers would be to compare the "broodiness scores" (love it!) of people a little while after they have returned to the urban environment (and have been re-immersed in it) from a time in nature, with those who never left the urban environment. It would be interesting to see how long the positive effects last and/or whether there is perhaps an even greater drop "back to earth". That's a rambling way of explaining it, but it makes me wonder about the "post-Camino blues" and whether the contrast between what we have experienced on Camino and what we return to contributes to that in terms of measurable changes in brain activity. Or something. (This is assuming we're returning to a busy urban or at least semi-urban environment of course - I'm sure rural-dwelling peregrinos aren't immune to post-Camino broodiness!). Ah well. Can you tell what sort of mental state I'm in right now?!

Phillypilgrim · Jul 24, 2015

Good article, thanks!

Anniesantiago · Jul 24, 2015

For me, walking is medicine because it helps chelate the chemicals.
Gets the blood moving and working.
Great article. Thanks!

whariwharangi · Jul 24, 2015

MISPWOSO

GettingThere · Jul 24, 2015

whariwharangi said:
MISPWOSO

LOL

domigee · Jul 24, 2015

Love it!

peregrina2000 · Jul 24, 2015

whariwharangi said:
MISPWOSO

Well, how else are these guys going to earn their keep??? I agree these things seem totally obvious, but it always feels good to learn that your sense of what makes sense is backed up by hard chemical/biological evidence.

Lachance · Jul 24, 2015

dougfitz said:
Thank you for sharing. It always create some tension in my household to hold the fort that it is better for me to walk in the bush than to the shops. I now have some independent support!

Shopping by menfolk can cause tension regardless of how they get to the shops. On one memorable occasion, cucumbers not zucchinis and a cabbage instead of a cauli. Guests were startled by the vegs with the roast turkey that Easter.

Kanga · Jul 24, 2015

whariwharangi said:
MISPWOSO

Very droll. Although my husband would disagree. Its not obvious to him at all. He thinks walking in nature is a kind of purgatory imposed on him in order to eat good food and drink good wine.

NualaOC · Jul 24, 2015

Kanga said:
Very droll. Although my husband would disagree. Its not obvious to him at all. He thinks walking in nature is a kind of purgatory imposed on him in order to eat good food and drink good wine.

Kanga, your comment rings many bells in our household!

mspath · Jul 24, 2015

Here is another article from the current New Yorker re the importance of the leafy green of nature for both physical and mental well-being.

whariwharangi · Jul 24, 2015

All kidding aside, these are interesting articles.

I used to spend weeks at a time bouncing around on the ocean in a tin can with 200 other guys.

Then whenever we got home I would spend any time off hiking. I liked the physical exercise and I really needed time on my own. But no doubt the mountain environment with all the varieties of forest (towering rain forest to scattered alpine krumholtz) is part of the attraction.

Its too bad we are cutting all the forests down. Soon nothing will be left except that which is protected as Parks. There already is enormous pressure on our Parks (and now the Camino too) as people look for quality wilderness experiences.

musicagl · Jul 24, 2015

peregrina2000 said:
Maybe this is why we're addicted! True, most Caminos have parts that do not fit the "walking in nature" description, but you can't walk a camino without walking in nature!

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/...=Full&region=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article

I read this article yesterday and think it is the walking, not the nature, that changes the brain, although there is positive synergy between the two. When I returned from the Camino in June 2014, I started walking to work whenever possible (5 miles roundtrip), a route that is neither peaceful or much green, but walking nonetheless. The rhythm of walking becomes almost meditative and allows the mind to expand and the emotions to quiet. Love walking.

Leah C. O'Leary · Jul 24, 2015

whariwharangi said:
MISPWOSO

What does MISPWOSOL mean?

Richard P · Jul 24, 2015

Today I am in Bilbao and on my slow way back to Paris and home (Vancouver Island). After 2 1/2 months of walking I think it is the sheer joy of putting one foot before the other whether it is chemical, psychological or something else, I don't know. I started the day walking from the Bilbao Central Hostel to the bus station, then a stroll to the Gugg. (Which I just waved at on my way through town a month or so ago), then meandered through the old part of the city, then after a coffee traipsed back to the hostel. Gone 5 hours, felt like 45 mins. Camino brain ?

whariwharangi · Jul 24, 2015

Leah C. O'Leary said:
What does MISPWOSOL mean?

Its a literary reference to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. MISPWOSO is an acronym for the Maximegalon Institute of Slowly and Painfully Working Out the Surprisingly Obvious.

whariwharangi · Jul 24, 2015

musicagl said:
I read this article yesterday and think it is the walking, not the nature, that changes the brain, although there is positive synergy between the two. When I returned from the Camino in June 2014, I started walking to work whenever possible (5 miles roundtrip), a route that is neither peaceful or much green, but walking nonetheless. The rhythm of walking becomes almost meditative and allows the mind to expand and the emotions to quiet. Love walking.

Did you prefer walking on the Meseta or walking in Leon?

jayree · Jul 25, 2015

peregrina2000 said:
Maybe this is why we're addicted! True, most Caminos have parts that do not fit the "walking in nature" description, but you can't walk a camino without walking in nature!

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/...=Full&region=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article

A similar analysis about the benefits of being in nature appears in today's New Yorker blog. Concerning the benefits of trees I like the last line, "If someone offers you ten thousand dollars or ten trees, take the trees."
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/what-is-a-tree-worth

Kanga · Jul 25, 2015

Yes @jayree that's the link @mspath posted. Thanks to you both, I enjoyed reading a bit of New Yorker. The question by @whariwharangi got me thinking. I do enjoy suburban walking but I guess that is a mixture of gardens and buildings.

KSM · Jul 25, 2015

Thank you for sharing. It's interesting to read about the studies being done. I think being on the camino hi lighted this fact even more for me. I would be maybe approaching a bigger town or city on a particular day, thinking maybe this is where I will take a day of and explore. But upon arriving to the city I couldn't stand it. I never stopped, and never had a rest day. As soon as I arrived in a city I could not wait to walk through it and get back to the more enjoyable energy the camino offered. The couple of times it happened I couldn't explain it to myself or understand, I just kept walking.... But later in the camino I realised there was something about walking in the city that heightened the anxiety levels in me.... Now I know everyday I need to find a peaceful place to walk to stay connected. And I'm even working towards living in a less populated area, in the countryside.

Jools · Jul 25, 2015

KSM said:
Thank you for sharing. It's interesting to read about the studies being done. I think being on the camino hi lighted this fact even more for me. I would be maybe approaching a bigger town or city on a particular day, thinking maybe this is where I will take a day of and explore. But upon arriving to the city I couldn't stand it. I never stopped, and never had a rest day. As soon as I arrived in a city I could not wait to walk through it and get back to the more enjoyable energy the camino offered. The couple of times it happened I couldn't explain it to myself or understand, I just kept walking.... But later in the camino I realised there was something about walking in the city that heightened the anxiety levels in me.... Now I know everyday I need to find a peaceful place to walk to stay connected. And I'm even working towards living in a less populated area, in the countryside.

KSM, I had exactly the same feeling - I am in Santiago and just finished the Primitivo - I got so used to walking alone for hours in beautiful nature that when the Frances joined the Primitivo I ended up forging my own route south off the main trail to get away from it all, it was wonderful, I ended up walking an extra 20 but didnt mind, today I have been in Santiago all day and now feel I need to walk again tomorrow, it is addictive

KSM · Jul 25, 2015

Jools said:
KSM, I had exactly the same feeling - I am in Santiago and just finished the Primitivo - I got so used to walking alone for hours in beautiful nature that when the Frances joined the Primitivo I ended up forging my own route south off the main trail to get away from it all, it was wonderful, I ended up walking an extra 20 but didnt mind, today I have been in Santiago all day and now feel I need to walk again tomorrow, it is addictive

Very addictive !

jayree · Jul 26, 2015

KSM said:
I would be maybe approaching a bigger town or city on a particular day, thinking maybe this is where I will take a day of and explore. But upon arriving to the city I couldn't stand it. I never stopped, and never had a rest day. As soon as I arrived in a city I could not wait to walk through it and get back to the more enjoyable energy the camino offered. The couple of times it happened I couldn't explain it to myself or understand, I just kept walking....

I experienced the same feelings. Later I explained to friends, "When you are a pilgrim you are not a tourist."

Jools · Jul 26, 2015

I met an Italian here in Santiago who had just finished The Camino norte and he had made up this so song (to the theme of La Bamba)
yo no soy Turigrino
yo no soy turigrino
soy perigrino la verdad
it says it all really

musicagl · Jul 28, 2015

whariwharangi said:
Did you prefer walking on the Meseta or walking in Leon?

I much prefer the Meseta, but if all I've got is Leon type environment.....I'll take it. Walking out of doors, is I guess the key (for me at least). I can't stand treadmills.

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Walking´s possible effect on the brain

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