The Benefits of Walking Outdoors

Whenever I feel overwhelmed by the stressors of life, I go for a walk outside. It helps me relax, it clears my brain and it's the quickest way I know to boost my mood. My clients will tell you that I talk a lot about the enormous benefits of walking outdoors, in fact, it's my go-to reminder at the end of every session. While some are skeptical, others report that their walking routine has played a pivotal role in changing their lives and is their go-to strategy for staving off anxiety.

Turns out there's a body of research suggesting that walking, especially outdoors, is powerful medicine for the brain and one of the most important things you can do to support your mental health.

Here’s what we know.

Walking Can Prevent Brain Atrophy

One of the consequences of living in our tech-driven, distracted world is that it makes us susceptible to stress. If left unchecked, chronic stress can impact the brain's structure and function. Prolonged exposure to stress hormones like cortisol can lead to atrophy, particularly in the hippocampus, which is crucial for memory, thinking and performing everyday tasks.

Walking has been shown to counteract this atrophy. In just 10-30 minutes a day, walking can improve your mood by increasing blood flow to the brain and releasing feel-good neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine. This blood flow promotes the growth of new neurons and aids in preserving brain volume.

“Walking Green” Can Lower the Risk of Depression

We’ve learned that the benefits of walking are amplified when we do it in nature. A landmark study by researchers at Stanford found that walking outdoors in green space, as opposed to walking in busy urban settings, can lead to a lower risk of depression. They also found that walking in nature affects rumination, which is repetitive negative thinking that can contribute to the onset of depression and anxiety.

In short, participants had their brains scanned before and after a 90-minute walk. Those who walked in a natural setting reported decreased rumination after the walk and showed reduced neural activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex, a brain region active during rumination.

Walking Can Help You Focus, Sleep and Stay Calm

Andrew Huberman, the Stanford professor who is known for his work in the field of neuroscience, thinks we should all be starting our day with a walk in the sunlight to reset our clocks and calm the brain.

He teaches that forward ambulation or movement causes something called optic flow. Simply put, when we generate our own forward motion through walking, visual images pass by our eyes. (For those without vision, sounds cause auditory flow). This activity has a powerful effect on the nervous system and has the ability to quiet neural activity in the amygdala, which plays a role in anxiety, fear and threat detection.

Huberman states that in addition to forward movement, getting morning sunlight into our eyes impacts our mood, our ability to sleep and focus, our ability to cope with stress and our hormone levels and immune system. In fact, he considers walking in the sunlight one of the most important things we can do every day to support our mental health and performance.

That’s a pretty good payoff for a morning walk in the sun:)