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We started walking and hiking more, got carried away with trekking and Nordic walking… Why did walking suddenly become so attractive for us in the age of superspeeds?
Speed, quickness, productivity, competition… In the era of high-speed trains and instant messaging on the Web between the most remote places on the planet, in the era of charts and the struggle for goals-points-seconds, many have clearly manifested a need for an activity that can be considered the antipode of all the main values of modernity.
This passion has not only not disappeared, it has become more widespread right now, when the world is accelerating before our eyes.
Why walking became popular
Maybe the fact is that each of us is originally a Homo viator, a wandering person, and that is why walking resonates so strongly in the soul of those who practice it? Sociologist and anthropologist David Le Breton believes that the popularity of walking is due to the associations with freedom and happiness that it conjures up in our imagination.
- It’s an economical business which does not require large expenses from us, which is especially valuable in times of crisis.
- Walking is eco-friendly and is not associated with greenhouse gas emissions or other types of air pollution. Like cycling or boat trips, hiking is a “green” tourism that combines respect for natural resources and the way of life of the local population with self-care.
- Walking is good for health and figure. Now we are all called to move more, regardless of age and physical condition; 85% of the world’s population, according to WHO, lead a sedentary (“sedentary”) lifestyle.
Walking regularly becomes something of a moral obligation, like eating healthy and not smoking. But all these reasons are not enough to explain the massive passion for walking. Obviously, the walkers find something deeper, deeper and more personal in this activity, thanks to which, despite fatigue, muscle pain and shortness of breath, they move on.
New relationship with time
Why do we feel intense pleasure just by moving our feet on the ground? Many researchers have tried to analyze the mysterious effect of walking. They note, for example, that there is no profit in this activity, it is by definition unproductive, it can hardly be monetized, it has a lot of freedom and little planning, and in this it is contrary to the values of modern society.
The most difficult test for an active and eternally busy modern person is to find a month of loneliness for himself, pulling himself out of the eternal haste and at the same time not falling into prostration and immobility. The slow rhythm of walking becomes the antipode of haste.
This new relationship with time and space is one of the beneficial effects of walking. It adds to our life, not in the sense that it increases its duration, but because it stretches out our subjective time: hours spent on a hike last longer and feel more fulfilling than hours spent working or talking.
Way to see life differently
Another positive effect is merging with the natural environment, which equally affects the body and thoughts. By the end of the day spent on the road, the traveler has a sense of the fullness of his own being, although he just climbed to the top, got lost and went to the right road or reached the intended place of lodging for the night. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Arthur Rimbaud, Milan Kundera, Ludwig Wittgenstein… Poets, novelists, philosophers found inspiration in the open air and thought in the rhythm of their own steps.
Hiking allows you to let go of the reins, loosen control, says David Le Breton. As we walk, we clear our head, free it from parasitic thoughts caused by everyday worries, and fill the mind with new impressions.
We can break out of the “online” state, take a break from the need to constantly respond, connect, be connected and available. Our horizon is no longer the screen of our computer or phone.
And then walking becomes a form of meditation in motion, brings us closer to wisdom and peace, sharpens our eyesight and allows us to look far ahead. “Only those thoughts that come to mind on the go are worth something,” said Friedrich Nietzsche.
Development of creativity
Nietzsche’s opinion was confirmed in a series of experiments1. To begin with, students at Stanford University (USA) were tested for the ability to generate innovative ideas. They had to come up with alternative ways to use the most common items like a car tire or a button. For example, a tire could be used as a lifeline, and buttons could be used as chips or coins in a card game.
By doing this task, the participants were either sitting or walking, so the researchers had the opportunity to see firsthand the effect that walking has on the imagination. Moreover, this effect was observed not only in the case of walking on the street, but also in the case of moving along a treadmill in a room with white walls.
This means that it is not only a matter of visual stimulation, but also in the movement of the body itself. Even after some time, when the students were already sitting again, the positive effect of walking persisted.
The mechanisms of how walking affects our imagination are still unknown; perhaps the fact is that walking frees the mind and improves mood, and also has a positive effect on associative memory, which establishes connections between different entities. Or, as a result of general relaxation, repressed ideas may be expressed more freely, leading to more original solutions.
1 M. Oppezzo, D. Schwartz «Give your ideas some legs. The positive effect of walking on creative thinking», Journal of Experimental Psychology. Memory and Сognition, April 2014.