Walking

Walking is a very common type of low-impact aerobic physical activity. Because our ancestors often spent large portions of their days walking in pursuit of resources, our bodies have evolved in the expectation of frequent exercise. Recently, urbanization and specialization of labor have reduced the distances people need to travel to achieve various needs, while simultaneously innovating new means of transportation that do not require physical activity.

Today, walking is still very common, but the average number of steps taken in a day has dropped dramatically. Efforts to employ technology to avoid physical exertion in daily activities have become more and more artful, even as people simultaneously spend considerable effort to attempt to ward off obesity, leading to the common occurrence of people avoiding walking in daily life yet walking on a treadmill at the gym.

People walk for many reasons—for exercise, for transportation, or for the experience itself. Walking can help people maintain a healthy weight, improve balance and coordination, build healthy bones, manage stress and improve emotional well-being, and ward off or manage a range of health problems from diabetes and cardiovascular disease to cognitive decline.

Many people walk with children or animals to supervise them in getting exercise. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, such as brisk walking, each week. However, most U.S. adults do not meet these guidelines.

Especially for short trips, walking is often a great way to get from one location to another within reasonable proximity, in which case walking may be called “active transport.” Taking a stroll can also be very pleasant. Research has found that being near natural scenes and living green environments fosters mental health, stress reduction, and alertness.

Walking can be a form of meditation, including in Zen Buddhist practice. In contrast to most types of mechanized transit, walking allows people to fit into smaller spaces, avoid collisions, and does not require much infrastructure or equipment. Thus, walking can be egalitarian.

Because foot travel allows unplanned deviations and direct physical experience of a place, pedestrians often are more aware of the places they traverse. Whether in urban or rural areas, then, walking can allow interactions such as picking flowers, greeting casual acquaintances, or reading bulletin boards.

These casual interactions might seem unimportant, but researchers believe they help communities build “social capital,” a store of social interactions and expectations that can promote positive action toward shared goals. For instance, bystanders may prevent crime, neighbors may band together to fight against a common problem, and a positive [Page 1718]sense of community may help reduce stress. That is, as more people walk, walking becomes safer for everyone. This “mass effect” is particularly beneficial for those who must walk and thus benefit the most from “eyes on the street.”

Likewise, as more people use public transit, which often involves some walking, too, public transit systems become more financially viable and are able to offer more services. Walking in a place increases knowledge of and emotional investment in the locale, and this sense of community may encourage people not to move out, and to come up with plans to improve the community. The existence of places where many people gather to stroll can be crucial to businesses that rely on “foot traffic”—customers who may not seek out a particular product or service but may be enticed to consume by what they see when they pass by.

...