Walking for the Mind and Spirit

Walking benefits your brain power, improves your mood and help ward off depression, and allows you to connect more deeply with your spiritual side and with your loved ones.  From your About.com Guide.

A study found better memory scores and lower clinical dementia scores in older adults in a 24-week physical exercise program.

Walking was shown to have good effects on mood for people with major depressive disorders.

If motivation was easy, we'd all be fit. Here are ideas you can use to get yourself to commit to walking.

Exercise keeps the brain young and may reduce risk of dementia

Exercise seems to help those with severe depression, but the Harvard Mental Health Letter also notes biases that may have affected the studies.

Studies of men and women show that regular walking was related to lower risks of dementia and better thinking abilities as they age.

A study looked at adults who had engaged in leisure time activity at least twice weekly and found had 50% lower odds of dementia compared to the adults who did not engage in physical activity during their middle years.

Listening to music while walking and exercising has some surprising effects.

James A. Blumenthal, Ph.D. and his colleagues surprised many people in 1999 when they demonstrated that regular exercise is as effective as antidepressant medications for patients with major depression. Their 2000 study shows it also keeps depression from recurring.

Negative self-talk is a destructive habit and part of an essential defense mechanism that we often develop to protect ourselves. "I can't do this" is really just a way of saying "I don't want to deal with the experience of doing this." understand that you can make the choice not to repeat old patterns of eating, non-exercise, and negative thinking.

Walking is cheap mental and emotional therapy. Studies continue to show time and again that regular exercise can relieve stress and depression.

Depression is one of the most common problems people experience today, but it's also very treatable with medication, therapy and other self-help options. But, have you ever considered exercise as part of your treatment? Study after study has shown that exercise is a helpful way to treat depression.

Fit or Fat expert Covert Bailey explains how exercise can help life-change mood disorders and clinical depression.

Walking Works site on the benefits of walking to combat stress.