| Walk for the sake of your health |
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| Written by Andrew McCloy, 2004 | |
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Page 2 of 2 In addition to the RA's activities, there are more and more walking 'festivals' springing up around the country. It all began with the Scottish Borders Festival of Walking in 1995, a week-long series of guided walks, talks and social events, and now literally dozens of locations across the UK are holding their own walking promotions - from Shetland, Herefordshire and the Isle of Wight through to such unlikely venues as Ulverston, Llanelli and Rotherham. To a degree it's an exercise in tourism and self-publicity, but virtually all the festivals put on walks for families and the less agile, with the healthy walking message at the forefront. In this age of couch potato children and TV dinners, you can see the motivation. British schools offer less physical education than those in any other European country, and according to statistics children in the UK walk 50 miles a year less than they did a decade ago. No wonder that around 20 per cent of children are now classed as overweight. Good for the soulSo much for the healthy body, but what about enriching that less easily-defined part of us - the spirit or the soul? There's no doubt that a peaceful walk in the countryside is calming, therapeutic and even inspiring (look no further than that seasoned fellwalker Wordsworth, of course) and in ways that science simply cannot analyse. Mind you, the Americans, rather inevitably, have tried.A philosophy emanating from the US called 'ecopsychology' suggests that there is a deep if subconscious relationship between human wellbeing and open green spaces. We are more at home, it theorises, in natural spaces where we once hunted and gathered food rather than dense and artificial urban environments. This so-called 'wilderness therapy' aspect is attracting ever more attention, no doubt because of the growing threats to our global environment and a trend towards urban alienation. In scientific circles there has also been debate about the 'biophilia effect', the notion that human beings have an innate affinity with nature and need to connect with it.
One of the leading proponents is Roger Ulrich, Director of the Center for Health Systems and Design at Texas A&M University, whose tests showed that just being in a natural green space reduced peoples' stress levels within a short space of time. "Twenty minutes' walk in a green space can reduce the heart rate, reduce blood pressure, lower levels of circulating stress hormones, increase cognitive performance and relax stress-related muscle tension," he concluded. Further informationTake 30: a practical guide to walking to improve health and wellbeing is a free booklet from the Ramblers' Association (a free Take 30 wall poster is also available), 2nd floor, Camelford House, 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TW, tel: 020 7339 8500, or visit www.ramblers.org.uk |
