If you’re looking for a simple and accessible way to improve your overall well-being, the answer may be as straightforward as taking a walk. In fact, there are many symptoms you might have experienced that can be alleviated with commitment to a regular walking practice. In this article, you’ll learn how nine common symptoms can be made better with walking.
I woke up my sophomore year of college to discover two seemingly unrelated issues. First, I had gained not just the freshman fifteen, but more like the freshman thirty, and I’m barely 5’3”. I blame dorm food and a steady stream of 11:00 p.m. pizza runs. Second, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life or even who I really was. I felt like I was constantly in reaction mode, and between classes, homework, and living with dozens of people on the 8th floor of Denton 8 (my dorm), well, the picture wasn’t pretty.
A long staple of military training, in its most basic form, rucking is simply walking with a loaded pack. The term comes from “rucksack,” the durable pack the military uses to carry equipment. Recent research has confirmed what our military has long known: rucking is a powerful form of fitness, whatever your mission.
Highly versatile, the weight you carry can vary based on your fitness level and training goals, and the right pack makes it easy to increase the weight as you get stronger. And get stronger you will, along with a host of other benefits that make rucking something we should all add to our walking practice.
If rising temperatures have you sweating about how to keep up with your walking practice, find relief with nine tips to keep you cool and crush your miles.
It is said that variety is the spice of life, a lesson you should consider applying to your walking style. Varying your routine helps to keep you from getting bored and presents the opportunity to challenge your body in new ways that can lead to stronger muscles and a healthier you. Here are nine ways you can switch things up and add a little spice to your walking workout.
Today, we share with you the things we learned from our fathers. The words and experiences that changed us and formed us into who we are today, and the lessons we pass on to our own children. Perhaps many of the sentiments and stories shared by our team here at 99 Walks will be familiar. Or perhaps your life lessons were expressed differently. But today, let’s all be grateful for the ones who influenced us and cherish those memories and the heart that was behind it all.
As a team, we've been reflecting on our Core Values and we have a lot of them. 99 of them to be exact. We needed a lot of them because, well, there is a lot to this community and this journey.
One of our team members recently shared how the 99 Walks Core Values resonate with her as we, as a nation, grapple with our past, our present, and our future.
The temperatures are rising, the sun is shining, and the days are getting longer, all of which are beckoning us outside. And though at 99 Walks we’re all about savoring the sunshine, and there are many benefits to some time outside, being safe while doing so is of the utmost importance. Following are 9 things to keep in mind when soaking up the summer -- or any season for that matter -- sun.
There’s nothing we enjoy more than walking in the sunshine, and not just because the warmth feels good on our skin. Sunshine has plenty of health benefits, and with the proper safe sun protection, walking is a great way to soak in the sun. Here are nine of our favorite reasons to savor the sunshine:
The past few months have been hard. Uncertain, unsettling, confusing, and sometimes frightening. But they have also forced us to slow down and to take stock. To begin to realize what’s important and to have the time and space to begin to prioritize those things. We are walking more. We are talking more. We are cooking more.
This month, as we begin to emerge back into regular life, let’s savor more.
It’s been two months since our family started sheltering in place. During that time, emotions have exhibited the ups and downs of the proverbial roller coaster. We've had stress-filled homeschooling sessions followed by anxiety-ridden uncertainties and sleepless nights. Now, I’m no expert, but my gut tells me that you might be in the same boat.
When we were babies, we were given pacifiers or found a thumb for sucking to calm us down when we were upset, but my guess is that those tactics might be frowned upon once you pass the age of four. So in an effort to curb the effects of all those grown-up worries, we've put together a list of nine techniques to self-soothe.
We inhale and exhale about 20,000 times a day. Each time, we set a remarkably complex chain of events in motion. A slew of muscles you don’t even know you have activate to expand your lungs. Oxygen passes from your lunges to your blood to your heart to be ferried throughout your body. That life-giving oxygen is exchanged for carbon dioxide, a toxic waste product, which is expelled as you exhale. Over and over. Breathing in life-giving oxygen. Breathing out toxic carbon dioxide.
Despite its essential role in our survival, despite the magic, the science and the complexity, inhaling and exhaling go largely unnoticed. Unobserved. Ignored.
It’s time to admit it. The kitchen is a room we’re visiting more frequently now that we’re home all the time. And not just for the main meals, but also in between. But, don’t fret. Snacking can actually be good for you if it keeps you from overeating at mealtime. So, what is the 99 Walks team snacking on these days? We surveyed the team and they shared their favorites.
You’ve probably heard it said that roots run deep, so get a group of people together scattered all over the country with heritage from vast different parts of the world and you’re bound to discover some odd, and often humorous, verbiage. With this month’s theme of “Walk in the Rain,” we couldn’t help but learn all the different ways a person could talk about rain. Here are nine of our favorites:
Last week, a guy whose official title is “Chief Happiness Officer” tweeted:
“I had to relearn how to walk in 2009 and it was a very slow process. But the things and the details that I noticed from walking so slowly around the same block each day gave me an entirely new view of my neighborhood. I had been racing by those people and places every day prior.”
Before, and you all know what I mean by “before,” most of my days went like this: Wake up at 5:00.
Happiness Lab Podcast, the things that we think will make us happy often don’t. But there’s one thing we know: Walking makes you happier. Here are nine reasons why.
Normally, little moments throughout our days deliver little jolts of the four so-called “happiness hormones.” We arrive at our office and warmly greet a co-worker: thank you, oxytocin. We drop our kids at school and hear from their teachers how well they are doing: hello, serotonin. We complete a work task and check it off our list: ahh, dopamine. We go to the gym and work out with our usual 5:30 p.m. crew: bring on the endorphins.
When the rain is falling, your instinct might be to stay indoors. But in reality, there are added benefits to walking in the rain. Here are 9 of our favorites:
Many months ago, we selected “Walk in the Rain” as the theme for April. We called it “a fact and a metaphor.” Little did we know how incredibly appropriate it would be by the time April rolled around.
Cars aren’t the only way we move through the places where we live, work, and play. Today, more and more cities and neighborhood associations are focusing on walkability, or more generally, how people move around an area without the use of a personal vehicle.
You’re home. Your kids are home. You’ve been power watching the news and maybe feeling a little helpless or confused. But as we are socially distancing ourselves it is still important to take care of ourselves, maybe now more than ever. 99 Walks is encouraging you to get up, lace up and go for a walk. And here are 9 really good reasons why.
The “growth mindset” has swept the world of everything from parenting and education to professional development and preschool over the past several years.
March 8 is International Women’s Day, and it is a celebration, a movement and a call to action. Here are nine things you should know about it:
What the heck is it? “International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women - while also marking a call to action for accelerating gender equality.”
Well, you’ve done it now. You've committed to becoming a Goal Crusher. To be a person who doesn’t just talk about what she wants, but who goes and gets it. You’re not just an “idea person," you are an idea activator. There is something in your life you really, truly want.
February provides the perfect opportunity to focus attention on some of the amazing history of the African American story and the chance to focus on some amazing women. Here are nine who inspire us.
