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

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I’d urge you not to do that – you could get hit by a car! And you can’t hear the birdsong. A study found that people who lived in cities had their mood lifted by birdsong. Also, what happens to your body when you look out at the horizon? Your stress level drops, the cortisol falls. It’s why we love views. 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. My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Penguin Group Putnam for an advanced copy of this book on the walking lifestyle.

Work is the obvious one, so I actually bought myself a walking desk, which is like a treadmill, but it’s got a desk bit on the front … And you can just work while your legs are moving, and I’ve found that really beneficial in so many ways.Walking in the rain, for example, is healthy because the air pollution clears up and nature’s molecules move around, she says. I always think a walk is best if you leave everything behind—certainly leave your phone behind—and there’s something so liberating about having so little with you … walking is completely liberating, you don’t need anything, you don’t need to know where you’re going, you can go wherever you like.” 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.

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. 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. There is a TON of information in this book about the benefits of walking, and walking in various ways.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. 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. Rather than using a rainy day as an excuse to stay home, this week’s activity encourages us to walk in the rain and reconnect with the elements. The falling rain, increased moisture and persistent pounding of raindrops causes specific compounds to be released and combined with the air we breathe. Inhaling those compounds produces a profound sense of well being in the body. 52 Ways to Walk – Week 12 Walk in the Rain Take a Silent Stroll What I appreciate also about the book is the ability to keep the walks interesting by playing a random game. One of the primary reasons people don’t continue a walking practice is boredom. And I get it. Walking the same route the same way becomes more of a mindless activity. I love that 52 Ways to Walk offers a fresh walking activity every week. Annabel Streets is an award-winning author of both narrative and practical nonfiction. She occasionally writes under the name Annabel Abbs, a pen name she is using for her forthcoming nonfiction book, Windswept: Women Who Walked.

It sort of puts so many things into perspective so you feel both sort of enlarged, in a mysterious way, but also feel shrunk down, you’re this tiny ant in this huge, huge cosmos. We have turned on to a path that follows the Thames. Reflected sunlight gives a chrome cast to the river. “It’s magical,” says Streets, looking out at the refracting glitter, “and when the sun shines down on the water like this it means you get twice as much light, so you get twice the serotonin boost and serotonin is what makes us happy.” This is a typical blend of the scientific and the romantic found in the book. For Streets, a waterfall doesn’t stop being inspiring and wonderful when you know that the presence of negative ions, molecules of air and water charged with electricity, are the reason for your lowered heart rate and reduced stress. Studies on the potential effects of the full moon – covering everything from a higher rate of women going into labour to increases in violent crime – are inconclusive, but Streets feels that adds to “the eerie, enigmatic qualities of a moonlit walk”. A delightful balance of ideas, inspiration and science. The short punchy chapters fit well between walks and make them even more enjoyable.”—Tristan Gooley, author of The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs

And letting your skin feel the cold air as you walk triggers the body’s production of brown fat, which helps us burn calories, she says. This book covers much of the science of walking together with the health benefits and research undertaken. Annabel Streets delves into the science and romanticism of walking and explores the good things that can happen with this one small act.”— Reader’s Digest s obzirom na sumanutu kilometražu koju svakodnevno prolazim hodajući, nadala sam se da će mi ovaj priručnik unijeti dašak svježine dok, eto, prolazim manje-više istim rutama i na to trošim (ili, ako obrneš: ulažem) sate i sate. 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.”

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.” Ways to Walk was born out of Annabel’s reconnection with walking and the desire to encourage others to rethink walking and reclaim it from their molecular memories. 52 Ways to Walk – Week 1 Walk in the Cold How to Use the Book I can never understand why people out walking in the countryside wear earbuds. Take them out and listen to the birds, the trees rustling in the wind, the babbling brook, and you won’t make other walkers feel awkward when they speak to you by having to wait while you take them out! Dr Kate McLean has mapped smellscapes across the world in a variety of environments. Google her to see her extraordinary maps. Smells are enhanced by rainfall so walk in the rain or just after a shower. Walking beside rivers or amongst trees has many health benefits, including reducing stress levels. It’s suggested that we sing or dance while we walk but I won’t be doing that any time soon, even if it’s only my dog that can hear me! Good to know though that as an ‘older dog owner’, walking him is improving my brain health. Walking had become, once again, the great adventure of my life. But this time science could explain how and why”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. Walking strengthens our bodies, calms our minds and lifts our spirits. But it does so much more than this. Our vision, hearing, respiration, sleep, cognition, memory, blood pressure, sense of smell and balance are all enhanced by how we walk. For instance: The book, 52 Ways to Walk by Annabel Streets, carries the subtitle “The surprising science of walking for wellness and joy, one week at a time.” I appreciate the “wellness and joy” aspects of the book. And, I absolutely love the format. My imagination immediately fired up as I read through the book.