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‘It’s a superpower’: how walking makes us healthier, happier and brainier (2019)

223 points by carrozo 6y ago

newbie578 6y ago
Would be nice if there was any concrete evidence backing up this "superpower" since this article is more or less just an interview. I would love to compare the benefits of walking to HIT exercises, or perhaps even a rowing machine..
- lhl 6y ago
  I've found that in general almost all popular health journalism/news coverage is awful. You're much better reading primary sources (particular, recent reviews in peer-reviewed medical literature) to get much more readable and information-dense, and useful resource (as well as a list of citations for followup and verification). I'd recommend anyone interested in any health topic to simply search for "pubmed [topic] [keyword]" to get any substantive information. For example, a search for "pubmed walking versus hiit" actually turns up the answer to exactly what you were looking for.
  - dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
    To save everyone interested a few clicks: "In conclusion, in this population of relatively untrained but healthy young adults, our results suggest no particular advantage for very high intensity training models" [0] [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4657417/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4657417/
    - lhl 6y ago
      One of the things to keep in mind is that any one study is part of a larger picture and part of why I recommend people do their own searches so they can see what kind of studies are out there (or to start with reviews). For any individual study you have to at the minimum pay attention to sample size/population, what kind of study it was, and often looking at the methods/study design as well. There will often be caveats or additional wrinkles. For example: Shiroma, Eric J., Howard D. Sesso, M. V. Moorthy, Julie E. Buring, and I‐Min Lee. “Do Moderate‐Intensity and Vigorous‐Intensity Physical Activities Reduce Mortality Rates to the Same Extent?” Journal of the American Heart Association 3, no. 5 (September 16, 2014). https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.114.000802 https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.114.000802. "Among men, but not women, additional modest reductions in all-cause mortality rates are associated with a greater proportion of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity performed at a vigorous intensity." Fisher, Gordon, Andrew W. Brown, Michelle M. Bohan Brown, Amy Alcorn, Corey Noles, Leah Winwood, Holly Resuehr, Brandon George, Madeline M. Jeansonne, and David B. Allison. “High Intensity Interval- vs Moderate Intensity- Training for Improving Cardiometabolic Health in Overweight or Obese Males: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” PLoS ONE 10, no. 10 (October 21, 2015). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138853 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138853. "While both exercise groups led to similar improvements for most cardiometabolic risk factors assessed, MIT led to a greater improvement in overall cardiovascular fitness." I'd also say that while it's tempting to just skim through the abstract and the conclusion, oftentimes, the Discussion is where the real meat is, and in cases of controversy, careful attention needs to be paid to the authors, the raw data (sadly, especially in the nutrition space, there is often discordance between the observations published, statistical massaging, and the conclusions drawn...) and followup commentary. For the HIIT study you referenced, I did find this commentary, which was pretty interesting (it's worth noting that I don't consider this topic area to be particularly controversial/heated - differences seem modest, and honestly, the biggest thing seems to actually be getting any physical activity, vs none for most people...): Coswig, Victor S., Paulo Gentil, João P. A. Naves, Ricardo B. Viana, Charles Bartel, and Fabrício B. Del Vecchio. “Commentary: The Effects of High Intensity Interval Training vs Steady State Training on Aerobic and Anaerobic Capacity.” Frontiers in Physiology 7 (October 25, 2016). https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2016.00495 https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2016.00495.
      - dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
        That's true. When reading the Discussion of the article I quoted from, it struck me how much they talked about the aspect of enjoyment. But when you think of it, this aspect is huge, because it basically determines whether people will actually follow through or not. A few percent increase in VO₂max is useless if people will hate the regime and will simply not do it.
- Fricken 6y ago
  This article rounds up and summarizes bunch of studies on the cognitive benefits of walking: https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2016/10/30/six-reasons-why-walking-is-the-daily-brain-medicine-we-really-need/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2016/10/30/six-rea...
- amsully 6y ago
  Not sure why you are being downvoted. This article provides credentials then as the interviewer asks questions O'Mara makes unbacked claims (that he would like to test). Would need to read his book "In Praise of Walking" to determine the sourcing of his research.
tonetheman 6y ago
I am not sure there are any super powers from walking. But it makes me feel better I am certain of that. And it gets me away from the keyboard for a bit. That cannot be bad.
tiku 6y ago
Well walking gives you time to think, reflect and it's excercise all in one. The problem I have is that it takes a lot of time if you want to walk to somewhere useful to combine things..
Aaargh20318 6y ago
Walking makes me anxious. It's just too slow and makes me feel stuck in a place. Cycling, however, has the opposite effect. It allows me to move around quickly and effortlessly, it gives a a sense of freedom and just melts any anxiety away.
- yomly 6y ago
  It's good that you can find freedom in cycling, tho the coach in me wants to challenge you to see whether you can find peace and freedom in a very leisurely stroll. After all, if you're not going anywhere, what is the rush?
  - Aaargh20318 6y ago
    > After all, if you're not going anywhere, what is the rush? I have IBS, so getting to a bathroom. When I have an attack, walking makes things much worse, combined with the fact that it takes forever to get anywhere on foot it’s a recipe for disaster.
    - Ensorceled 6y ago
      That's a very specific condition though. My best friend from university suffers from IBS so I completely understand where you are coming from.
  - bserge 6y ago
    Different things for different people. Walking just makes me tired, I start with 50 thoughts in my head and end with 100 thoughts in my head. There is no rush, and that is what makes my brain anxious. Running, cycling, lifting, shooting helps me focus, and that brings peace to my mind.
    - justnotworthit 6y ago
      Maybe people's brains are (metaphorically) on a hertz cycle that is perfectly calm/in sync when the outside stimulation as at the same "frequency". It's like when you try to fall asleep watching/listening to something. Too boring and your mind wanders and you dont fall asleep. Too exciting and you're thinking about things while keeping up with the original thing.
perardi 6y ago
1. Some actual research: “More steps taken per day are associated with lower mortality rates until approximately 7500 steps/d” https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2734709?guestAccessKey=c46927fc-b021-43a6-a43d-26eb90ee54b7&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=052919 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullar... 2. As the gyms are closed down here, again, and indoor dining is shut down, again, I have been walking at least 6 miles a day with the dog, and it has been a sanity-preserving way to get away from working at home. (Not looking forward to the first slushy/icy storm, though. Both the dog and I hate walking in boots.)
- gilbetron 6y ago
  Dogs can handle it, except for rock salt. For you, get some good boots for walking - they exist (Saloman boots are super comfortable for me, but everyone is different!). Walking in the winter is the best (other than freezing rain), I find - quieter, less people, more calming. Then again, I have a lot of Scandinavian heritage ;)
  - perardi 6y ago
    I just hate clomping around in the boots. But I manage. Now, do you have super-secret Scandinavian folk knowledge of good dog boots? Because I have tried, and he hates the damn things. And the rock salt irritates his feet quite a bit.
    - nate_meurer 6y ago
      I'm not convinced that dog boots are ever necessary. Wild dogs can't afford shoes. Sled dogs run all day barefoot in sub-zero temperatures. I have four random little mutts between ten and twenty pounds, and even they rarely have trouble in the winter. I took one of them out for a run today at 15 deg. F, no problem. Salt is a problem. If there's a lot of salt out, I'll rub a sealant into their pads before we go out. Lots of things will work -- lip balm or lanolin are my favorites, but petroleum jelly would probably do in a pinch. But whatever you use, the most important thing is to simply wash the salt out of their pads after they come back in. I've done this for almost a decade in Colorado and none of my dogs has ever had a cracked or frost-bitten pad.
elric 6y ago
I don't drive. I walk everywhere (combined with public transport for longer distances). I don't think it's a super power as such, but it does keep me relatively fit with little intentional effort. Going from A to B just includes an incidental light workout. Gives me time to think, to unwind, sometimes to read. Can recommend it to pretty much everyone. Some things might take a little longer, but if you have to dick around on HN or watch Netflix, you have time to walk to places.
- amelius 6y ago
  Same here. The only downside is people openly pitying you when you tell them you have to walk to X now. This still makes me feel a loser sometimes for not owning a car. It's stupid, I know.
  - WhompingWindows 6y ago
    Can you reframe their "pity" as an expression of sympathy? Or is it the way you're telling them "OH, well I HAVE to walk now." Instead, say "Well, I get to walk now, see ya!", show them you're happy with the decision.
    - amelius 6y ago
      It could be a combination of both. Usually it starts like: "I have to leave a bit earlier because I have to walk". From then there is pitying/sympathy.
  - ck425 6y ago
    I always interpreted that as them being selfish or idiotic. When I see people drive somewhere that's less than 2 miles away it blows my mind.
    - avalys 6y ago
      It takes 30-40 minutes to walk 2 miles. If I have to go to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner, do you really think I should spend an extra 60 minutes walking there and back vs. driving?
sn41 6y ago
A possibly related phenomenon I read recently about: profound isolation, especially in Antarctica, seems to interfere with the hippocampus, which relates to spatial navigation and memory. So regions in the brain associated with walking are also related to important cognitive functions. The article discusses whether long-term isolation due to Covid will have similar effects: [1] [1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/what-research-in-antarctica-tells-us-about-the-science-of-isolation/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/what-research-in-an...
nickjj 6y ago
I've been walking 2-5 miles every day for the last 7 or so years. This is walking outside with no set destination and no electronics. I wouldn't describe it as being a superpower, but I do find it to be relaxing. My sense of direction is pretty bad tho, especially in unfamiliar places. I recently discovered a new trail system and while I didn't get "lost lost", there were times where I thought for sure I was going back to where I wanted to but I ended up going in the opposite direction. But at the same time, when I walk around areas I've been to I can pick out very specific details, almost like recreating a map in my head but I think this has more to do with repetition and practice that would apply to everyone. If you've walked around a place literally 1,000 times you're bound to pick this stuff up. I'm sure it will happen for me in those trails with enough practice too. With that said I know someone who doesn't walk at all and is one of those people who can drive to somewhere in an unfamiliar place once and then know exactly how to get there months or even years later. I'm not convinced walking by itself improves your internal GPS.
- rfrezende 6y ago
  You have just described me in the second and third paragraphs and my wife in the last. ;)
notjustanymike 6y ago
The best thing you can do for your health is get a dog. They're like a workout buddy who never bails on you.
underdeserver 6y ago
If weather permits. Where I live, April to October inclusive it's just too hot outside to walk. More than ten minutes and you're all sweat.
- bserge 6y ago
  I guess you could think of it like walking + sauna, both of which are considered healthy by themselves :D
Taylor_OD 6y ago
Walking has kept me sane over the last two years. I love my daily walk.
carapace 6y ago
Who was it who said, "I have two doctors, my right leg and my left leg?"
ookblah 6y ago
in NYC i would try to walk everywhere. just a great time in the morning and back home to contemplate diff things or work through solutions. now w/ covid i'm out of the city and in the burbs temporarily, but thankfully there's a park nearby that i can stroll too. one thing that was interesting was that i had traveled to another country a few months after NYC went to lockdown (so i was basically inside all day). after 2 weeks in quarantine i walked around the new city for the whole day and was suuper sore the next day, which surprised me. i think we take for granted the benefits of it.
tartoran 6y ago
I agree with a caveat: walking posture. If walking feels tiring or unpleasant it’s likely that one doesn’t have a good walking posture. I’ve been walking wrong a big chunk of my life until I re-learned the right way, in my 40s! It’s wonderful to walk now and don’t get tired and achy like i used to. Bad habits get so ingrained in us that it becomes extremely tricky to correct them but it is very possible to fix these and the reward very high, I have a better posture, more energy and am better in a shape than when i was younger and any back issues i had nearly vanished.
- vekker 6y ago
  How did you relearn it "the right way"? Did you go to a physiotherapist?
  - tartoran 6y ago
    No physiotherapist could really help me as I wasn’t injured and my walk was’t obviously wrong, they all sortof dismissed me. What helped was ballance exercises, learning how to use skeletal muscles and paying attention to the whole aspect of walking: in the end it should feel effortless. I was also stepping on the foot wrong, was applying too much pressure on the front of the foot and leaning the trunk forward a few degrees more than now. The rest was trial and error and it took a while to fine tune it but as soon as I found the sweet spot - and you know it, it feels just right and you’re relaxed - the rest is making this a habit so you don’t really have to consciously think about it and it happens naturally. I also fixed a lot of static postures such as sitting on a chair, etc I sometimes fall into the old postures but now can adjust accordingly What I forgot to mention was stretches which do help but if the motion isn’t fixed the tense muscles tense back as they try to compensate for the incorrect movement. There are multiple paths to this and yoga could be one of them. Im just a stubborn self lerner and went through a lot of trial and error. At the beginning i studied muscular imballances and did a lot of strenghtening and stretching but that didn’t help too much as my bad habits were reverting all the progress and certain muscles would tense up and others wouldnt fire. Once i figured out the correct posture it all fell into place
    - 6y ago
spodek 6y ago
> plenty of regular walking unlocks the cognitive powers of the brain like nothing else This view implies not walking is normal and walking is something you can go out of your way to do to improve on normal. I prefer viewing walking as normal and not walking as aberrant, so I would say "not walking destroys cognitive powers of the brain like nothing else." People are free to define normal how they want. I find my way motivates more walking and less sedentariness.
markbnj 6y ago
Six years ago I weighed in at 265 pounds with a 44-inch waist. To make a change I decided to start walking nightly. Began taking my dogs with me for encouragement (perhaps the thing dogs are best at), and eventually settled on a route that covered almost exactly two miles with some good hills to get the heart rate up. Today the dogs no longer come with me because they have grown too old to keep up. My weight is down to 215 and my waist to 36" and the nightly walk is such an ingrained habit that I feel like a complete slug if I can't take it for some reason.
- specialist 6y ago
  I got a puppy before an unplanned surgery. It's pretty hard to stay in bed feeling sorry for myself when the dog needs exercise.
opportune 6y ago
When some types of athletes need to drop weight, one of the strategies they do is to walk at a normal-brisk pace for hours until they hit a certain number of estimated calories burned. The reason they walk is that it has a much lower risk of injury and puts less stress on the body than most other forms of cardio exercise (perhaps excepting a stationary bike) and our bodies are good at naturally finding a pace we can sustain ~indefinitely. It feels like a bit of a hack when you go for a 2hr walk and end up burning almost 800kcal listening to music, talking to people on the phone, maybe taking care of chores like paying bills.
- acwan93 6y ago
  Just curious, do you know of any ones that tout walking? I realized this during stay-at-home orders back in March. When I stopped bike commuting I started walking for 1-2 hours a day on days I didn’t go on runs, and realized I was burning a significant amount of calories according to my Apple Watch.
  - opportune 6y ago
    You mean any individual athletes? Not that I can think of off the type of my head, but by "classes" earlier I was referring mostly to strength-based athletes or any sort of sport where there are weight classes/a need to be lean. So wrestling, weightlifting/powerlifting/etc., probably most fighting disciplines, bodybuilding.
- thirdsun 6y ago
  Plus, doing hard exercise doesn't always lead to weight loss since the resulting muscle mass isn't exactly weightless.
erik_landerholm 6y ago
What’s with the walking vs owning a car? They are in no way mutually exclusive. I walked about three hours yesterday and it was easy (and I own a car too). I download things from YouTube I don’t need to watch and just start walking/hiking. You will burn anywhere from 75-200 calories/mile walking/hiking. I did like 14 miles yesterday. I will take weight off of you or allow you to eat whatever you want the easiest vs perceived exertion. Side benefit, the world is strange and people are weird and you get a good dose of that. Saw a ground squirrel running down a trail carrying a severed rabbits head the other day, fun!
noneeeed 6y ago
This has been the worst thing for me about suddenly working from home, the sudden loss of my daily commute and lunchtime walks that had a purpose and couldn't be skipped. It took me far too long to realise the damage this sudden reduction had on my body, not just my fitness, but also things like circulation. I've been trying to factor in more intentional walking into my day, but somehow it's not the same as walking with a purpose. I'm getting there, but forming new habits can be surprisingly hard, especially when family commitments get in the way.
teslaberry 6y ago
yes, it's called living in a city.
dailygrind___ 6y ago
I have a total of 45 mins walk for my commute. When I started, I had my wife pick me up by car in the evening because I was exausted after a long day. After a few months, I was enjoying my walks and being able to unwind with no effort. It definitely improves your fitness.

223 points by carrozo 6y ago

Would be nice if there was any concrete evidence backing up this "superpower" since this article is more or less just an interview. I would love to compare the benefits of walking to HIT exercises, or perhaps even a rowing machine..

lhl 6y ago
I've found that in general almost all popular health journalism/news coverage is awful. You're much better reading primary sources (particular, recent reviews in peer-reviewed medical literature) to get much more readable and information-dense, and useful resource (as well as a list of citations for followup and verification). I'd recommend anyone interested in any health topic to simply search for "pubmed [topic] [keyword]" to get any substantive information. For example, a search for "pubmed walking versus hiit" actually turns up the answer to exactly what you were looking for.
- dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
  To save everyone interested a few clicks: "In conclusion, in this population of relatively untrained but healthy young adults, our results suggest no particular advantage for very high intensity training models" [0] [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4657417/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4657417/
  - lhl 6y ago
    One of the things to keep in mind is that any one study is part of a larger picture and part of why I recommend people do their own searches so they can see what kind of studies are out there (or to start with reviews). For any individual study you have to at the minimum pay attention to sample size/population, what kind of study it was, and often looking at the methods/study design as well. There will often be caveats or additional wrinkles. For example: Shiroma, Eric J., Howard D. Sesso, M. V. Moorthy, Julie E. Buring, and I‐Min Lee. “Do Moderate‐Intensity and Vigorous‐Intensity Physical Activities Reduce Mortality Rates to the Same Extent?” Journal of the American Heart Association 3, no. 5 (September 16, 2014). https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.114.000802 https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.114.000802. "Among men, but not women, additional modest reductions in all-cause mortality rates are associated with a greater proportion of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity performed at a vigorous intensity." Fisher, Gordon, Andrew W. Brown, Michelle M. Bohan Brown, Amy Alcorn, Corey Noles, Leah Winwood, Holly Resuehr, Brandon George, Madeline M. Jeansonne, and David B. Allison. “High Intensity Interval- vs Moderate Intensity- Training for Improving Cardiometabolic Health in Overweight or Obese Males: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” PLoS ONE 10, no. 10 (October 21, 2015). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138853 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138853. "While both exercise groups led to similar improvements for most cardiometabolic risk factors assessed, MIT led to a greater improvement in overall cardiovascular fitness." I'd also say that while it's tempting to just skim through the abstract and the conclusion, oftentimes, the Discussion is where the real meat is, and in cases of controversy, careful attention needs to be paid to the authors, the raw data (sadly, especially in the nutrition space, there is often discordance between the observations published, statistical massaging, and the conclusions drawn...) and followup commentary. For the HIIT study you referenced, I did find this commentary, which was pretty interesting (it's worth noting that I don't consider this topic area to be particularly controversial/heated - differences seem modest, and honestly, the biggest thing seems to actually be getting any physical activity, vs none for most people...): Coswig, Victor S., Paulo Gentil, João P. A. Naves, Ricardo B. Viana, Charles Bartel, and Fabrício B. Del Vecchio. “Commentary: The Effects of High Intensity Interval Training vs Steady State Training on Aerobic and Anaerobic Capacity.” Frontiers in Physiology 7 (October 25, 2016). https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2016.00495 https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2016.00495.
    - dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
      That's true. When reading the Discussion of the article I quoted from, it struck me how much they talked about the aspect of enjoyment. But when you think of it, this aspect is huge, because it basically determines whether people will actually follow through or not. A few percent increase in VO₂max is useless if people will hate the regime and will simply not do it.
Fricken 6y ago
This article rounds up and summarizes bunch of studies on the cognitive benefits of walking: https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2016/10/30/six-reasons-why-walking-is-the-daily-brain-medicine-we-really-need/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2016/10/30/six-rea...
amsully 6y ago
Not sure why you are being downvoted. This article provides credentials then as the interviewer asks questions O'Mara makes unbacked claims (that he would like to test). Would need to read his book "In Praise of Walking" to determine the sourcing of his research.

tonetheman 6y ago

I am not sure there are any super powers from walking. But it makes me feel better I am certain of that. And it gets me away from the keyboard for a bit. That cannot be bad.

tiku 6y ago

Well walking gives you time to think, reflect and it's excercise all in one. The problem I have is that it takes a lot of time if you want to walk to somewhere useful to combine things..

Aaargh20318 6y ago

Walking makes me anxious. It's just too slow and makes me feel stuck in a place. Cycling, however, has the opposite effect. It allows me to move around quickly and effortlessly, it gives a a sense of freedom and just melts any anxiety away.

yomly 6y ago
It's good that you can find freedom in cycling, tho the coach in me wants to challenge you to see whether you can find peace and freedom in a very leisurely stroll. After all, if you're not going anywhere, what is the rush?
- Aaargh20318 6y ago
  > After all, if you're not going anywhere, what is the rush? I have IBS, so getting to a bathroom. When I have an attack, walking makes things much worse, combined with the fact that it takes forever to get anywhere on foot it’s a recipe for disaster.
  - Ensorceled 6y ago
    That's a very specific condition though. My best friend from university suffers from IBS so I completely understand where you are coming from.
- bserge 6y ago
  Different things for different people. Walking just makes me tired, I start with 50 thoughts in my head and end with 100 thoughts in my head. There is no rush, and that is what makes my brain anxious. Running, cycling, lifting, shooting helps me focus, and that brings peace to my mind.
  - justnotworthit 6y ago
    Maybe people's brains are (metaphorically) on a hertz cycle that is perfectly calm/in sync when the outside stimulation as at the same "frequency". It's like when you try to fall asleep watching/listening to something. Too boring and your mind wanders and you dont fall asleep. Too exciting and you're thinking about things while keeping up with the original thing.

perardi 6y ago

1. Some actual research: “More steps taken per day are associated with lower mortality rates until approximately 7500 steps/d” https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2734709?guestAccessKey=c46927fc-b021-43a6-a43d-26eb90ee54b7&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=052919 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullar... 2. As the gyms are closed down here, again, and indoor dining is shut down, again, I have been walking at least 6 miles a day with the dog, and it has been a sanity-preserving way to get away from working at home. (Not looking forward to the first slushy/icy storm, though. Both the dog and I hate walking in boots.)

gilbetron 6y ago
Dogs can handle it, except for rock salt. For you, get some good boots for walking - they exist (Saloman boots are super comfortable for me, but everyone is different!). Walking in the winter is the best (other than freezing rain), I find - quieter, less people, more calming. Then again, I have a lot of Scandinavian heritage ;)
- perardi 6y ago
  I just hate clomping around in the boots. But I manage. Now, do you have super-secret Scandinavian folk knowledge of good dog boots? Because I have tried, and he hates the damn things. And the rock salt irritates his feet quite a bit.
  - nate_meurer 6y ago
    I'm not convinced that dog boots are ever necessary. Wild dogs can't afford shoes. Sled dogs run all day barefoot in sub-zero temperatures. I have four random little mutts between ten and twenty pounds, and even they rarely have trouble in the winter. I took one of them out for a run today at 15 deg. F, no problem. Salt is a problem. If there's a lot of salt out, I'll rub a sealant into their pads before we go out. Lots of things will work -- lip balm or lanolin are my favorites, but petroleum jelly would probably do in a pinch. But whatever you use, the most important thing is to simply wash the salt out of their pads after they come back in. I've done this for almost a decade in Colorado and none of my dogs has ever had a cracked or frost-bitten pad.

elric 6y ago

I don't drive. I walk everywhere (combined with public transport for longer distances). I don't think it's a super power as such, but it does keep me relatively fit with little intentional effort. Going from A to B just includes an incidental light workout. Gives me time to think, to unwind, sometimes to read. Can recommend it to pretty much everyone. Some things might take a little longer, but if you have to dick around on HN or watch Netflix, you have time to walk to places.

amelius 6y ago
Same here. The only downside is people openly pitying you when you tell them you have to walk to X now. This still makes me feel a loser sometimes for not owning a car. It's stupid, I know.
- WhompingWindows 6y ago
  Can you reframe their "pity" as an expression of sympathy? Or is it the way you're telling them "OH, well I HAVE to walk now." Instead, say "Well, I get to walk now, see ya!", show them you're happy with the decision.
  - amelius 6y ago
    It could be a combination of both. Usually it starts like: "I have to leave a bit earlier because I have to walk". From then there is pitying/sympathy.
- ck425 6y ago
  I always interpreted that as them being selfish or idiotic. When I see people drive somewhere that's less than 2 miles away it blows my mind.
  - avalys 6y ago
    It takes 30-40 minutes to walk 2 miles. If I have to go to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner, do you really think I should spend an extra 60 minutes walking there and back vs. driving?

sn41 6y ago

A possibly related phenomenon I read recently about: profound isolation, especially in Antarctica, seems to interfere with the hippocampus, which relates to spatial navigation and memory. So regions in the brain associated with walking are also related to important cognitive functions. The article discusses whether long-term isolation due to Covid will have similar effects: [1] [1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/what-research-in-antarctica-tells-us-about-the-science-of-isolation/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/what-research-in-an...

nickjj 6y ago

I've been walking 2-5 miles every day for the last 7 or so years. This is walking outside with no set destination and no electronics. I wouldn't describe it as being a superpower, but I do find it to be relaxing. My sense of direction is pretty bad tho, especially in unfamiliar places. I recently discovered a new trail system and while I didn't get "lost lost", there were times where I thought for sure I was going back to where I wanted to but I ended up going in the opposite direction. But at the same time, when I walk around areas I've been to I can pick out very specific details, almost like recreating a map in my head but I think this has more to do with repetition and practice that would apply to everyone. If you've walked around a place literally 1,000 times you're bound to pick this stuff up. I'm sure it will happen for me in those trails with enough practice too. With that said I know someone who doesn't walk at all and is one of those people who can drive to somewhere in an unfamiliar place once and then know exactly how to get there months or even years later. I'm not convinced walking by itself improves your internal GPS.

rfrezende 6y ago
You have just described me in the second and third paragraphs and my wife in the last. ;)

notjustanymike 6y ago

The best thing you can do for your health is get a dog. They're like a workout buddy who never bails on you.

underdeserver 6y ago

If weather permits. Where I live, April to October inclusive it's just too hot outside to walk. More than ten minutes and you're all sweat.

bserge 6y ago
I guess you could think of it like walking + sauna, both of which are considered healthy by themselves :D

Taylor_OD 6y ago

Walking has kept me sane over the last two years. I love my daily walk.

carapace 6y ago

Who was it who said, "I have two doctors, my right leg and my left leg?"

ookblah 6y ago

in NYC i would try to walk everywhere. just a great time in the morning and back home to contemplate diff things or work through solutions. now w/ covid i'm out of the city and in the burbs temporarily, but thankfully there's a park nearby that i can stroll too. one thing that was interesting was that i had traveled to another country a few months after NYC went to lockdown (so i was basically inside all day). after 2 weeks in quarantine i walked around the new city for the whole day and was suuper sore the next day, which surprised me. i think we take for granted the benefits of it.

tartoran 6y ago

I agree with a caveat: walking posture. If walking feels tiring or unpleasant it’s likely that one doesn’t have a good walking posture. I’ve been walking wrong a big chunk of my life until I re-learned the right way, in my 40s! It’s wonderful to walk now and don’t get tired and achy like i used to. Bad habits get so ingrained in us that it becomes extremely tricky to correct them but it is very possible to fix these and the reward very high, I have a better posture, more energy and am better in a shape than when i was younger and any back issues i had nearly vanished.

vekker 6y ago
How did you relearn it "the right way"? Did you go to a physiotherapist?
- tartoran 6y ago
  No physiotherapist could really help me as I wasn’t injured and my walk was’t obviously wrong, they all sortof dismissed me. What helped was ballance exercises, learning how to use skeletal muscles and paying attention to the whole aspect of walking: in the end it should feel effortless. I was also stepping on the foot wrong, was applying too much pressure on the front of the foot and leaning the trunk forward a few degrees more than now. The rest was trial and error and it took a while to fine tune it but as soon as I found the sweet spot - and you know it, it feels just right and you’re relaxed - the rest is making this a habit so you don’t really have to consciously think about it and it happens naturally. I also fixed a lot of static postures such as sitting on a chair, etc I sometimes fall into the old postures but now can adjust accordingly What I forgot to mention was stretches which do help but if the motion isn’t fixed the tense muscles tense back as they try to compensate for the incorrect movement. There are multiple paths to this and yoga could be one of them. Im just a stubborn self lerner and went through a lot of trial and error. At the beginning i studied muscular imballances and did a lot of strenghtening and stretching but that didn’t help too much as my bad habits were reverting all the progress and certain muscles would tense up and others wouldnt fire. Once i figured out the correct posture it all fell into place
  - 6y ago

spodek 6y ago

> plenty of regular walking unlocks the cognitive powers of the brain like nothing else This view implies not walking is normal and walking is something you can go out of your way to do to improve on normal. I prefer viewing walking as normal and not walking as aberrant, so I would say "not walking destroys cognitive powers of the brain like nothing else." People are free to define normal how they want. I find my way motivates more walking and less sedentariness.

markbnj 6y ago

Six years ago I weighed in at 265 pounds with a 44-inch waist. To make a change I decided to start walking nightly. Began taking my dogs with me for encouragement (perhaps the thing dogs are best at), and eventually settled on a route that covered almost exactly two miles with some good hills to get the heart rate up. Today the dogs no longer come with me because they have grown too old to keep up. My weight is down to 215 and my waist to 36" and the nightly walk is such an ingrained habit that I feel like a complete slug if I can't take it for some reason.

specialist 6y ago
I got a puppy before an unplanned surgery. It's pretty hard to stay in bed feeling sorry for myself when the dog needs exercise.

opportune 6y ago

When some types of athletes need to drop weight, one of the strategies they do is to walk at a normal-brisk pace for hours until they hit a certain number of estimated calories burned. The reason they walk is that it has a much lower risk of injury and puts less stress on the body than most other forms of cardio exercise (perhaps excepting a stationary bike) and our bodies are good at naturally finding a pace we can sustain ~indefinitely. It feels like a bit of a hack when you go for a 2hr walk and end up burning almost 800kcal listening to music, talking to people on the phone, maybe taking care of chores like paying bills.

acwan93 6y ago
Just curious, do you know of any ones that tout walking? I realized this during stay-at-home orders back in March. When I stopped bike commuting I started walking for 1-2 hours a day on days I didn’t go on runs, and realized I was burning a significant amount of calories according to my Apple Watch.
- opportune 6y ago
  You mean any individual athletes? Not that I can think of off the type of my head, but by "classes" earlier I was referring mostly to strength-based athletes or any sort of sport where there are weight classes/a need to be lean. So wrestling, weightlifting/powerlifting/etc., probably most fighting disciplines, bodybuilding.
thirdsun 6y ago
Plus, doing hard exercise doesn't always lead to weight loss since the resulting muscle mass isn't exactly weightless.

erik_landerholm 6y ago

What’s with the walking vs owning a car? They are in no way mutually exclusive. I walked about three hours yesterday and it was easy (and I own a car too). I download things from YouTube I don’t need to watch and just start walking/hiking. You will burn anywhere from 75-200 calories/mile walking/hiking. I did like 14 miles yesterday. I will take weight off of you or allow you to eat whatever you want the easiest vs perceived exertion. Side benefit, the world is strange and people are weird and you get a good dose of that. Saw a ground squirrel running down a trail carrying a severed rabbits head the other day, fun!

noneeeed 6y ago

This has been the worst thing for me about suddenly working from home, the sudden loss of my daily commute and lunchtime walks that had a purpose and couldn't be skipped. It took me far too long to realise the damage this sudden reduction had on my body, not just my fitness, but also things like circulation. I've been trying to factor in more intentional walking into my day, but somehow it's not the same as walking with a purpose. I'm getting there, but forming new habits can be surprisingly hard, especially when family commitments get in the way.

teslaberry 6y ago

yes, it's called living in a city.

dailygrind___ 6y ago

I have a total of 45 mins walk for my commute. When I started, I had my wife pick me up by car in the evening because I was exausted after a long day. After a few months, I was enjoying my walks and being able to unwind with no effort. It definitely improves your fitness.