To walk, or to run?
In other words, if you’re looking to improve your health, is it better to commit to an occasional all-out sweat fest, or incorporate more walking and moving into your day?

A study suggests there’s an answer to this years-old conundrum: It doesn’t matter.

Research from the American Heart Association suggests that it doesn’t matter as long as your workouts fall into one category: aerobic exercise – defined as any movement that raises your heart rate and gets you moving and sweating for a sustained period.

An easy, regular walk or run to get involved in is parkrun. With 35 locations around South Australia each Saturday morning, Parkrun welcomes walkers as well as runners. Parkruns are free, socially-focussed 5km community events. Everyone in the community is invited to get involved – as walkers, runners and volunteers. It’s a great community, you’ll meet new people, and enjoy the coffee afterwards at a local cafe or meeting place.

Source:
Moderate‐to‐Vigorous Physical Activity and All‐Cause Mortality: Do Bouts Matter?
Published 22 Mar 2018, Journal of the American Heart Association. 2018;7:e007678

Feeling stressed out?
Go for a walk.
The positive effects of a single exposure to nature make us feel happier for up to 7 hours.

We have long been aware of the positive effects of walking in nature can have on our mental health and wellbeing, and a study has found the positive effects of a single exposure to nature make us feel happier for up to 7 hours.

That means that walking to work in the morning, or taking the dog for a stroll first thing, can really leave you feeling happier all day.

The study by Urban Mind, including King’s College London, found that the benefits of experiencing nature on mental well-being are time-lasting and interact with an individual’s vulnerability to mental illness.

Walking transforms lives. Psychologist Kylie Agnew talks about her work with Operation Flinders using adventure activities for therapeutic populations. She saw people experience positive transformation through walking.

“Some of the changes I’ve seen in people have been huge, with the young people I’ve worked with, both on Operation Flinders and in other programs, seeing them change from the start to the finish of the eight days out in the wilderness. It’s been really inspirational. I was lucky enough to travel the world to see how some of these programs run in all different remote parts of the world. There’s a lot of people using walking to help people all around the world.”

Throughout October we’re celebrating walking with #walktoberSA

Transcript:

The World Health Organization recommends that we all walk everyday. I think we should be doing as much walking as possible, obviously within our busy lives, but making time to walk everyday is going to be important, but also building walking into our lives so that we all can benefit from walking, whether it’s physical and emotional or psychological benefit.

There’s a lot of different research that’s been done on why walking is good for mental health. Some of it’s been based obviously on the physical side, having general health, meaning that you’re going to be healthier mentally, but there’s also a lot of research to show that serotonin and different hormones are released when we walk and when we exercise, and then I guess we’ve also got that relationship building which is obviously another protective factor for mental health, building friendships, building relationships by spending time together.

For me personally, I just love being in the outdoors. It’s been a passion of mine since I grew up on a farm, and also going to university and studying adventure activities then moving into using adventure activities for therapeutic populations.

Some of the changes I’ve seen in people have been huge, with the young people I’ve worked with, both on Operation Flinders and in other programs, seeing them change from the start to the finish of the eight days out in the wilderness. It’s been really inspirational. I was lucky enough to travel the world to see how some of these programs run in all different remote parts of the world. There’s a lot of people using walking to help people all around the world.

Want to improve your mental health?
Go for a walk.
People who exercise have 43% fewer days of poor mental health.

It’s a common piece of advice: that exercise is pretty good for your mental health. A huge study published in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry has found that literally just walking can improve your mental health.

Individuals who exercised had 43% fewer days of poor mental health in the past month than individuals who did not exercise. All exercise types were associated with a lower mental health burden (between 11.8% and 22%).

The study of 1.2m people appeared in the Lancet Journal on August 8th 2018.