Walking for Cognitive & Emotional Stress
December 30, 2011
Did you know that if you vary the distance, speed and duration of your walks it can reduce stress, energize yourself and even improve your personality?
Walking has been proven to be a very powerful therapeutic tool. It has been found to modify unhealthy personality traits and be helpful with coping with major life changes. Stress management techniques often refer to walking as the best exercise to help control and cope with stresses of everyday life.
Walking to manage stress combats light depression and boredom while improving creativity and problem-solving capabilities.The effects of stress can surface in physiological, emotional and cognitive symptoms. Emotional symptoms can include: fear, anxiety, and depression, and cognitive changes include a decrease in productivity, learning and creativity.
Everyone copes with stress differently. However you handle stress, walking can help you cope with stress more effectively and greatly reduce the risk of illness.
It’s recommended that speed and intensity be slow to moderate (2.5 to 4.5 miles an hour). Frequency and duration should be intermittent to meet low-level stresses combined with at least a 3-day-a-week walking program (90 minutes weekly).
Walking right before or after a stressful situation (brisk ten minutes) will help alleviate stress and anxiety by making your mind and body resilient to stressful episodes. This is a pressure-valve technique of “letting out the steam” – eventually this will become increasingly unnecessary as you train your body to bounce back from stress.
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