Last Updated 1 year by Lukas
Our bodies are designed to move, not much has changed about it since the beginning of time. Unfortunately, many of today’s jobs involve sitting for long periods of time or performing repetitive movements throughout the day, confined to a facility or office. By not moving and being hidden inside buildings, we are slowly deteriorating our health, and we are contributing to vitamin D deficiency by not exposing our skin to the sun.
The main point is simple. We know that our bodies respond positively to movement, to exercise, to reasonable exposure to unpleasant conditions such as cold water. In fact, our bodies need it if we are to live long and healthy lives, even in retirement. To use an analogy, we know that a car needs petrol, but it can also run on oil. It’s just that if we put oil in it, we’ll destroy it pretty quickly. It should be common sense not to do the same to ourselves.
Walking toward better health
We are not far from the truth when we say that our bodies are optimised for walking. We are able to walk reasonably long distances without feeling exhausted. And because walking is usually done outside our homes, offices or factories, it serves several purposes. Do you know what these purposes are? Let’s explore them together in the following lines.
The lymphatic and glymphatic systems
Did you know that we not only have a blood system (cardiovascular system) in our body, but also a special fluid called lymph? It is part of what is called the lymphatic system and is a very important part of the immune system, it also helps to remove waste from our body, amongst other important tasks. Similarly, the glymphatic system helps remove waste and protects our brain (it cleans up metabolites produced by neurons).
If you don’t hear any pumps running in our bodies, you’re right. We don’t have a built-in pumping system to keep the fluid moving, like the heart does. That’s why the lymphatic system relies on muscles, movement and gravity. In other words, if we don’t move our bodies enough, we slow down the cleansing process considerably. And I don’t know many people who are happy when the kitchen bin is full and we have to go outside to empty it. Our bodies are not happy with rubbish staying inside either.
Exposure to light, vitamin D and the sun
It’s no coincidence that in Egypt the most important god, Ra, was identified with the sun. When we walk outside during the day (ideally for at least 30 minutes) we are bathed in the light of the sun. It has several benefits, firstly it allows our skin (when exposed to UV light from the sun) to produce vitamin D. It’s an important vitamin involved in many body processes. It improves mood and regulates the immune system (it can support or suppress it).
Light also allows the brain to fully wake up (remove residual substances that remain in our brain after waking up, making us feel tired). It also allows the brain to synchronise its circadian rhythm, so that it knows when it’s time to wake up and when it’s time to sleep. Finally, exposure to light has a positive effect on our mood, it simply makes us feel better.
Heart, muscles, joints
We could go on describing the benefits of walking in detail for hours if we really wanted to go into depth. The point I’d like to make is that by moving our bodies, we also keep our internal organs in good shape by giving them a reasonably difficult stretch.
Creativity, memory, learning
Long walks have been used by many famous scientists and philosophers, and the tradition dates back to ancient Greece and Rome. It all makes sense because you are putting your body under very mild stress, which causes your heart rate to increase, which leads to higher blood flow and deeper breathing. In the end, your brain gets more nutrients and it’s better cleaned. It should come as no surprise then that our cognitive abilities improve.
What is a walking table?
We all know how great it would be if we had the time to go for a nice, refreshing walk every day. Unfortunately, our mortgages are not going to pay for themselves. It seems we have to do something to help. If our schedules are so tight that we cannot find 30 minutes a day to walk, or if we want to maximise the potential benefits of ‘at least 10,000 steps a day’. We might find the idea of ‘background tasking’ a good fit.
What is background tasking?
It’s a clever way of letting things happen (without our active effort or attention) in between when we’re doing something else. I know, it sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Please don’t confuse this with multitasking, which is usually detrimental to performance. Background tasking is simply about planning your day and doing things together. It’s like turning on the washing machine and paying attention to your work, or walking while you work.
Standing desk and walking treadmill
If your eyes have reached this point, you already have enough information to put it all together. We are going to put together a standing desk and a walking treadmill (which can usually only go up to 10 km/h). And we have created a walking desk. When our lives are so busy, we have to stay at home or in the office to work. We can turn this disadvantage into an advantage with Walking Desk.
From now on we can change whether we are standing still, walking or sitting at our desk. This brings a lot of variability and your body will love it. At the same time, we are background tasking with walking, as we do the walking during our regular work (considering our work means sitting in front of a PC). In general, this gives our bodies the dynamic movement they need to keep our deep, stabilising muscles strong.
Final words
We have only scratched the surface of the importance of exercise. It’s not about working yourself to the bone or going to the gym for two hours. However, it is a very important step in how we start to move towards better health in our busy lives. Of course, we get the most benefit if we can get some sunlight as well when walking.
On the other hand, if we can walk during our work and for example during lunch break get exposure to sunlight (and do some walking) we will soon notice our elevated mood, improved health and of course we may notice other benefits mentioned within this article. Let’s stop with ‘Why I can’t’ talking and let’s do our daily walking!