52 Ways to Walk: The Surprising Science of Walking for Wellness and Joy, One Week at a Time

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I wasn't sure what I was going to get with this book, although it shouldn't have been a surprise given the rather informative title, but it was so unexpectedly delightful!

Things I liked about this book: So many ideas to think about walking in a new way and to keep the simple act of walking from being boring. Ideas to engage all the senses, different times of day, terrain, moods, duration, health benefits, etc.

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As she returned to walking frequently, she made two rules for herself: walk instead of using the car, unless absolutely necessary and convert as many sedentary activities as possible into walking activities.

most: Walk like a nomad, a meditative practice where you sync your steps with your breaths (3 steps breathe in, 1 step hold in, 3 steps breathe out, 1 step hold out) (perhaps even through your nose). Is walking an important form of exercise and relaxation for you? Then you would enjoy this book as well. The activities are so varied and the information in each chapter is well presented and motivational. But in adulthood, she fell into a pattern familiar to many of us – days spent hunching towards a computer, evenings prone on the sofa. Working out in the gym, but using the car to get there. The combination of desk job and driving made her body “rounder, softer, achier, stiffer, stooped” and her mind anxious and unsettled. She made a resolution to do as much as she could on foot, getting a dog and proper wet-weather gear for extra motivation. Walking strengthens our bodies, calms our minds and uplifts our spirits. We know this intuitively, and recent years have seen an explosion of scientific and evidence-based research to substantiate that. Ways to Walk is published by Bloomsbury in the UK and Putnam Penguin Random House in the US under Annabel Streets.

52 Ways to Walk

Walking allows us to experience chance encounters with others. Greeting the people we meet with a smile while walking in a neighborhood makes us feel better and return home happier. Walk in the Rain As a person who walks for both physical and mental health, rather than a particular destination, Annabel Streets' 52 Ways to Walk: The Surprising Science of Walking for Wellness and Joy, One Week at a Time is both an inspiration, and a revelation. I knew that walking made me feel better, especially during these super trying times, but I wasn't sure why, nor how I could make a walk around my neighborhood more interesting.

Walking had become, once again, the great adventure of my life. But this time science could explain how and why" Streets goes through them all, explaining the who, what, when, where, why, and how of each kind of walk. A surprisingly high number of studies have been done on walking and its benefits. I do wonder how much we can take from a study of a group of 60 walkers (many of the studies referenced include less than 100 participants), but a lot of the things she claims make sense. If you walk in the morning, it can help you wake up. If you walk in the evening after dinner, it can help you sleep better. It makes sense, right? Her body grew rounder, softer, achier, stiffer and more stooped. And Annabel felt more anxious, unsettled and discontent. She chose to reconnect with the simple joys of walking, to reclaim her health and wellbeing.We’re so eye focused that it’s quite hard, sometimes you have to literally close your eyes to stop all the distraction that’s coming in visually. With hearing, I was fascinated to discover some of the science behind the sounds we hear so the most relaxing sound for most people is actually the sound of water … but the most uplifting sound is actually birdsong.” Any walk can be turned into a more rewarding and beneficial experience. When we walk in the cold, for example, our bodies use more glucose to warm us up. As glucose enhances cognition, we think better in cold climates. Interestingly, cognition improves even when looking at images of cold things. According to the author, mild cold = 16C. That made me laugh as 16C is considered pleasant weather in a Scottish spring or summer! I wanted to show people all the reasons there were to walk,” she says. “Even in the darkness, even in the rain, there will be something that part of us will respond to, whether that’s physiological or emotional or cognitive. I didn’t want to be the person who was just telling everyone to get their 10,000 steps.”

The 52 Ways to Walk project was actually the product of over-enthusiastic research. Streets, who also writes as Annabel Abbs, has written several historical novels, all based on real women, like Lucia Joyce, a professional dancer and the daughter of James Joyce; or Frieda Weekley who eloped with DH Lawrence and is considered to be the inspiration for Lady Chatterley. Streets had been working on a nonfiction book, Windswept, where she walked the routes taken by famous women, such as the artist Georgia O’Keeffe or the nature writer Nan Shepherd. “There was memoir and biography and I had also included a lot of scientific research about walking,” she says. “My editor, quite rightly, insisted I remove it.” Rather than let it go to waste, that research was the start of 52 Ways. “Other people, who were much more expert than me on various topics, were very generous with their knowledge and their time,” she says. “There are shelves and shelves of research on walking, but I think people have largely found it unsexy.” The rain [also] really shakes up all of the plants and the soil … and all these molecules start moving around within tree trunks and leaves, and these molecules are incredibly good for us … [they] are helping us feel more relaxed.I love the easy to use format and the mix of tips, stories, science and fun in each chapter. Walking as an exercise is important to me. The health benefits are many plus it is a recommended activity for the Blue Zones lifestyle. Our choice of location, time, direction, duration, walking companion and gait, as well as the weather we opt to walk in, can transform our daily stroll. Here, Annabel Streets shares the thrill of 52 different ways to walk, explaining the latest science behind each one, and providing practical tips for making the most of your daily steps. pa... annabel streets djelomično je u tome i uspjela. iako nam je svima u podsvijesti "hodanje je dobro za tebe", još je bolje ako imaš iza sebe neke znanstveno potkrijepljene činjenice o dobrobiti tabananja. od 52 načina koje ona predlaže, neki su iskoristivi i dobrodošli podsjetnik na važnost disanja, ispravnog držanja, prikladne obuće i odjeće, hidracije bla, a neki su posve čudnovati i djeluju kao nategnuti način da se popune stranice (hodanje pjevajući, plešući ili crtajući). One of the joys of 52 Ways to Walk is discovering that there’s a scientific basis for much of what we’d call common sense or folk wisdom – and so much of it is rooted in leaving the house and going for a walk: getting the sun on your skin can help your immune system, and there’s nothing harmful in getting covered in mud. In fact, it can help your gut health. A decade ago, scientists discovered that loud noises stopped new neurons from forming in the brain, in the regions linked to memory and learning. Two hours of silence every day produced new neurons. Walking in a quiet place allows the body to reset and the brain to create new neurons. Amble Amid Trees