Healthy and happy: take 15,000 steps a day
Everyone want some tea? Everyone wants some tea. Let's go over the weekend, from sleeping in on Saturday to drinks with friends on Sunday. Everyone in a fixed seat, laptop ready, notepad and pen. Is that back door intentionally open? Wait, I'll close it. Scrum master present? Scrum master is still in the bathroom. And before you know it, ten minutes have passed before you even start the meeting. And to say that such a weekly recurring meeting brings a lot of new ideas? Nah, those always come up under the influence of beer or wine in a bar (I'm just being honest).
It starts at the edge of your seat, but halfway through the meeting, everyone drifts off to what’s happening outside the room or on their phone or on the neighbor's notepad. Admit it, you do it too. The solution? Walking. Honestly, it’s a bit tricky to take minutes, but (also honestly) who actually reads those minutes? And if you turn on the dictaphone on your phone, you can still make a note (or even write a book). May already advocated for standing meetings, neuroscientist O’Mara says we should turn the meeting into a walk and basically do everything you do in a day like that.
On your way to work? Park your car three streets away. Lunch with your loved one? Walk to that cozy little place. Grocery shopping? Carry those bags, step by step. You get the drill. According to the neuroscientist, walking is good for your brain and we need to get back to at least fifteen kilometers a day, because that’s what we walked a century ago too. I just checked my step counter and I think I’ll borrow May’s Monti for an extra block, because I’m not doing too well today.
On the Shetland Islands (googles: where are the Shetland Islands) you already get it prescribed. Four walks a week of at least fifteen kilometers is what the doctor prescribes there. It makes you mentally healthier, it makes your body healthier.
With movement of your body, your brain is also in motion, O’Mara tells NRC. It doesn’t matter if you walk into the polder from Lutjebroek, take a forest walk, or stroll along the Amsterdam canals. By walking, you even train the hippocampus, one of the most important parts of the brain. Walking makes you more creative, happier, and you even see the world more clearly. Interesting…
I have a new goal, my Fitbit is coming out of the closet and onto the charger (it needs a little resuscitation) and I’m going to walk. On to 15,000 steps a day. Not only will my body become supersonically streamlined, but my mind will also be cleared up.
Source: NRC
