Why Walking Is The Superpower You Didn’t Know You Had with Professor Shane O’Mara (Re-Release) #271
Neuroscientist Shane O'Mara, professor of experimental brain research at Trinity College Dublin, discusses walking as an overlooked superpower, highlighting its benefits for memory, mood, creativity, and brain aging. He argues for redesigning environments to facilitate more natural movement.
Deep Dive Analysis
18 Topic Outline
Introduction to Walking as a Superpower
Neuroscientist's Motivation for Writing About Walking
Current Walking Habits vs. Evolutionary Design
Environmental Design Against Human Movement
Evolutionary Advantages of Bipedal Walking
Walking vs. Running: Injury Risk and Efficiency
Designing Walkable Cities: The EASE Mnemonic
Economic Benefits of Pedestrian-Friendly Spaces
The Power of Social Walking and Group Cohesion
Walking's Impact on Brain Health, Memory, and Aging
Walking and Creativity: Mechanisms and Benefits
Walking's Role in Mood, Happiness, and Mental Health
Walking and Inflammation: Implications for Depression
Hunter-Gatherer Lifestyles and Energy Expenditure
The Deceptive Complexity of Human Walking
Overcoming Walking's 'PR Problem' for Public Health
Using Technology and Personal Strategies to Walk More
Actionable Tips for Incorporating More Walking
5 Key Concepts
Hippocampal Formation
This is a part of the brain concerned with learning and memory, also involved in processing stress and affected by depression. Regular aerobic exercise, including walking, can increase its volume and improve its functions, effectively reversing functional aging of the brain.
Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)
BDNF is a substance expressed in the brain that floats into the blood, and its levels increase with exercise. Higher BDNF levels are associated with improved memory and brain health, contributing to the positive effects of walking on cognition.
Default Mode Network
This brain network is active when the mind is not focused on a specific task, allowing for broader thought and 'zooming back out' to see the bigger picture. Creative problem-solving is enhanced by flickering between this default mode and a task-positive network, a process walking can facilitate.
Exercise-Induced Inactivity
This phenomenon describes the tendency for the body to seek inactivity after a period of intense exercise. While a person might burn calories during a gym session, their body may then compensate by reducing overall movement later, potentially leading to increased hunger and calorie intake.
Inflamed Brain Theory
This theory posits that chronic inflammation in the brain can be a key driver of depression. Long-term walking has been observed to reduce inflammatory factors in the blood, suggesting a potential anti-inflammatory effect that could be beneficial for mental health.
8 Questions Answered
Walking is an astonishing, unique capacity that sets humans apart, offering incredible advantages like efficient movement for foraging, the ability to carry tools and prey, and enabling long-distance migration, which allowed humans to conquer the planet.
No, humans are not walking enough. Evolution designed us to walk extensively from infancy to old age, but modern environments are engineered to act against this natural inclination, making sedentary lifestyles the default.
Walking, particularly aerobic exercise, increases the volume of the hippocampal formation (involved in learning and memory) and boosts brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This can improve memory and attention, with studies showing that regular walking can functionally reverse brain aging in older adults.
Walking facilitates a 'rhythmic focusing and defocusing' of thought, allowing the brain to flicker between detailed problem-solving and a broader, default mode of thinking. It also increases overall brain activity, bringing more ideas to consciousness.
People consistently underestimate how much better a walk will make them feel, with mood ratings significantly improving after a 20-minute walk. Studies also show that increased walking is associated with a lower risk of succumbing to major depressive disorder.
The risk of injury rises per million steps run, but it does not significantly rise per million steps walked. Walking is considered one of the lowest-risk physical activities.
Human walking is deceptively complex, involving a long period of training in infancy to develop balance, range of movement, and interaction with the environment. Roboticists find it extremely challenging to engineer this level of facility and ease into robots, often opting for wheels or tracks instead.
If listening to a podcast helps you get out and walk when you otherwise wouldn't, it's beneficial. However, if you're trying to problem-solve or engage in quiet self-reflection, an auditory distraction might be counterproductive.
12 Actionable Insights
1. Reverse Brain Aging with Walking
Engage in regular walking to improve memory, attention, increase hippocampal volume, and boost BDNF, which can functionally reverse brain aging and enhance cognitive functions throughout life.
2. Boost Creativity and Problem Solving
To enhance creativity and problem-solving, take a short walk (5-10 minutes) before intellectual tasks or when facing writer’s block, as this can double the generation of new ideas. For complex issues, outline key points before walking to facilitate rhythmic focusing and defocusing.
3. Lift Mood and Prevent Depression
Walk regularly to significantly lift your mood and reduce the risk of succumbing to major depressive disorder, as people consistently underestimate the positive emotional impact of physical movement.
4. Improve Sleep and Mental Health
Prioritize both ample walking and quality sleep, as these two actions are paramount for mental and physical health, with consistent daily movement directly contributing to better sleep.
5. Aim for High Daily Step Count
Strive for a daily step count of 15,000-17,000 steps, or at least 10,000 steps, as this high level of consistent movement is achievable and provides significant health benefits.
6. Choose Movement Over Convenience
Actively choose movement by taking stairs instead of escalators or lifts, walking short distances instead of driving, and generally avoiding outsourcing physical activity to machines to counteract sedentary defaults.
7. Reduce Inflammation Through Walking
Engage in prolonged periods of walking, especially in nature over several weeks, to dramatically reduce inflammatory factors in the blood, which can combat chronic inflammation.
8. Integrate Walking into Daily Routines
Implement small, consistent changes like keeping comfortable shoes handy, taking walking breaks every 25 minutes, parking further away, or exiting public transport early to effortlessly increase daily steps. Consider joining a walking group for social motivation.
9. Prioritize Minimally Processed Foods
Shift towards a diet of minimally processed, high-fiber foods, such as eating whole fruits instead of smoothies, to make your body work harder to extract calories and avoid the negative health impacts of highly processed foods.
10. Avoid Post-Exercise Inactivity
Be aware of ’exercise-induced inactivity’ and the ‘psychological license’ to overeat after intense workouts; instead, focus on consistent, distributed movement throughout the day rather than relying solely on short, intense gym sessions.
11. Track Steps for Motivation
Use a pedometer or smartphone to passively track your daily steps, as this data can serve as a positive motivator to meet personal step goals and increase overall daily movement.
12. Walk Mindfully or with Distraction
If your goal is simply to get moving, listen to podcasts or music while walking. However, if you’re aiming for problem-solving or deep reflection, walk without auditory distractions to foster focused thought.
7 Key Quotes
So in a very important sense you've reversed the functional aging of the brain.
Shane O'Mara
Walking is this astonishing capacity that all humans have. It's kind of like the superpower that we have that we've overlooked.
Shane O'Mara
In many ways, are you saying that our ability to walk is what fundamentally makes us human? Yeah. And not alone that, but our ability to walk is what allowed us to conquer the planet.
Shane O'Mara
It's one of the lowest risk, but also highest benefit activities that exist.
Shane O'Mara
I like to suggest that you only get old when you stop walking. You don't stop walking because you're old.
Shane O'Mara
We persistently underestimate how good a walk will make us feel.
Shane O'Mara
The two things that will do the best for your mental health and for your physical health is to get lots of walking in, get lots of proper quality sleep.
Shane O'Mara
2 Protocols
Creative Problem Solving with Walking
Shane O'Mara- Write down a few bullet points outlining the problem or task you are trying to solve.
- Put the notes down and go for a walk.
- Allow your brain to work on the problem in an 'active idle mode' during the walk.
- Return to your task, as new thoughts and solutions are likely to have emerged.
Daily Walking Integration
Shane O'Mara- Always have a comfortable pair of shoes close by (e.g., runners under the desk).
- Set a computer alarm to go off every 25 minutes to prompt you to get up and walk around.
- If driving, park as far away as reasonably possible and walk the extra distance.
- If taking public transport, get off two stops early and walk the remaining distance.
- When getting lunch, choose a shop or restaurant that is a little further away to increase steps.