Walking together improves your relationship

Somewhere just past my thirtieth birthday, it suddenly appeared on my nice weekend getaway wishlist. Next to a nice hotel with a bath (!) and a restaurant to dine at, there it was: you should be able to walk a bit nicely. I no longer remember who came up with this point or the wishlist first, him or me. The fact is that the point remained, and that's a good thing. This is one in the category you probably didn't think of: walking together leads to a better relationship.

You already knew that a walk is good for your health. It's no coincidence that Erik Scherder sent us all outside during those lockdowns. We had to hit the paths and lanes. I even googled walking routes. I found myself in a nature reserve spying for red, yellow, and green directional arrows to point me in the right direction. I'll leave it up in the air whether I (the hipster of the hipsters) bought hiking shoes; you don't need to know everything. But back to making your relationship better while walking, because that can simply happen.

Experts claim that walking acts as a kind of social glue. You could say that people who walk together stay together. This is because the walkers in question adopt the same rhythm and pace during a walk. That merging of walking creates the same mental experience for the hikers. Think of it as tuning into the same frequency. Synchronously moving people seem to align their thoughts, feelings, and goals more with each other, reports Psychologie Magazine. How beautiful is that? Another reason to keep having performance reviews forever and ever while walking.

You probably know someone you can't walk with. The pace doesn't suit you, the steps don't fit, and it literally goes nowhere. But after the explanation from experts, it makes perfect sense that I prefer to walk only with my partner. More empathy and positivity also develops between you during the walk.

If you still need motivation to take a stroll after lunch, here it is. You’ve been warned, because before you know it, it’s on your weekend getaway wishlist, and less than a year later, you’re climbing up a hill through a stream in the Ardennes (true story). But hey, if it’s good for your relationship, why not?

Source: Psychologie Magazine