Exciting new findings reveal how your brain and body work together, and walking supercharges the relationship.
What goes on in your head doesn’t begin or end there: both your gut and your muscles have a profound influence on your mental health and cognitive performance – and walking more gets both working better say scientists.
A daily walk increases metabolism in the brain, boosting its ability to form new neurons, learn and remember. It also stops the hippocampus shrinking – a normal feature of aging thought to contribute to dementia risk. Muscles worked during brisk walking also release myokines into the bloodstream, small proteins which positively affect cognition, mood and emotional behaviour when they reach the brain. And mounting evidence shows maintaining muscle as you age through a challenge like Walk 1000 Miles is vital to maintain your brain’s processing speed, memory and composure, which aging will otherwise begin to take away.
And it isn’t just your muscles – walking also enhances the number of beneficial microbes in the gut, which in turn promotes metabolic and psychological health. The gut’s governed by the Enteric Nervous System (ENS) in the lining of your digestive tract – so important it’s referred to as your second brain. It’s home to 90% of the body’s serotonin, along with 30 other neurotransmitters, and affects not just the way we digest but the way we think. Walking enhances the function of the ENS, affecting not just the enzymes it uses to digest food but the chemical messages it sends to the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and amygdala, collectively responsible for our mood, motivation and higher functions.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that we think with our whole body – and the walking is the wonder workout ministering to every aspect of this wonderful machine we inhabit.
