A Walk in the Park

A 10-minute walk provides a cascade of benefits that impact your health on a cellular level. And getting outside amplifies those benefits.

• Lymphatic Drainage

  • Relies entirely on muscle contractions to move fluid

  • Walking supports the filtration and detoxification processes carried out by your liver and kidneys

• Blood Sugar Regulation

  • Helps your muscles utilize the circulating glucose

    • improving insulin sensitivity, preventing damaging blood sugar spikes

• Better Sleep Quality

  • Afternoon light helps trigger the eventual release of melatonin

    • ensuring deeper, more restorative sleep

• Sunlight Exposure (even on cloudy days)

  • Crucial for circadian rhythm

  • Early morning exposure triggers the brain to stop melatonin production and start releasing serotonin (the mood stabilizing neurotransmitter).
    

• Grounding and Connection

  • Stepping outside, especially into a green space, connects you to the natural world.

  • This practice is grounding, calming the emotional brain and reducing feelings of isolation.

Research found that a person’s creative output increased by an average of 60% while walking.

Walking engages the part of the brain responsible for introspection, memory retrieval, and daydreaming. By engaging this part of your brain, the immediate task of focusing on a stressful problems eases, helping you to solve them better.

Walking activates the parasympathetic nervous system (“rest and digest”). This clears the neurological “fog” caused by chronic stress. It makes your thoughts less reactive and more strategic, allowing you to approach complex situations with clarity rather than anxiety.

QUICK TIPS:

Take a simple 10 minute walk around the block.

Listen to a podcast or audiobook and get outside.

Convert a seated phone call into a walking call outside.

If you drive, intentionally park at the furthest possible spot from the entrance.