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Walking for Your Mind and Spirit
Part 3: Walking Away Stress

By , About.com Guide

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Walking can help relieve stress. A Nov. 9, 1999 study published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicineshowed that university students who walked and did other easy to moderate exercise regularly had lower stress levels than couch potatoes or those who exercised strenuously.

Walking gives you time to think, as well as time to get away from the stressors. Getting out of the stressful environment, breathing the air and feeling your body move is natural stress-relief.

  • Put physical and mental distance between you and the stress-causing environment.
  • Time away from the stressors to clear your head.
  • Many people carry stress by tensing their muscles. By getting into your correct walking posture and form, you unknot those muscles and put them to work. How to Walk
  • Observe the environment around you, enjoy the trees, flowers, birds, gardens, sky, storefronts.
  • Feel your body in motion, reconnect with yourself.
  • Wear off stress-eating related calories.
  • Take time to work through problems and possible solutions as you walk.
  • Talk and laugh with your walking partner to relieve the stress.
  • Let off steam and vent with your walking partner.
  • See that there is more to life than your problems.
  • Lower your blood pressure and your heart health risk which can be increased by stress.

Next Page >> Spiritual Walking

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