10 Benefits of Walking Your Business Brain

benefits of walking

The benefits of walking are well known for improving health. But as online entrepreneurs, we often have difficulty separating from our computer chairs. Consider that we might be doing our business brain a favor by stepping outside for a brief walk.

We may not realize how heavily we rely on our brain to function until a head cold or a migraine creates the ultimate misery. In the same way, we may not be aware that stepping away from the computer and engaging in a walk can have some immediate brain benefits.

But, but , but… you need to know first before you leave the comfort of your computer chair

How far do I have to walk?
How much time do I have to spend walking?
Do I really have to do it every day?

Here are the basic recommendations –

– It’s not so much a matter of how far but rather time spent – anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes.

– Every day would be optimal, but you can still benefit from 3 times a week.

– A mixture of fast paced and slow paced walking is ideal, but ambling at your own pace works too.

The 10 Benefits of Walking Your Business Brain

If you’re willing to leave your computer chair behind for 10 to 40 minutes of walking here’s how your business brain can benefit.

Provides an outlet for all the physical and mental stress your brain has been managing as you confine yourself to your desk.
Increases the production of the hormone norephedrine which moderates your brain’s response to unexpected stress situations that seems to pop up out of nowhere.
Helps to mitigate the feeling of anxiety when you get overwhelmed by the commitments you’ve made and fast approaching deadlines.
Allows you to be more productive and creative by increasing the energizing effect of fresh oxygenated blood flow to your brain.
Sunlight helps to keep your circadian rhythm clock of light and darkness in a more natural cycle. This can give your more restful and rejuvenating sleep that allows you to be more alert during the day to get done what you need to get done.
By comparison, your visual, auditory and kinesthetic senses are more stimulated by a changing outdoor environment than your static working space. You can come back to your current project with a fresh view for making any changes or tweaks that you didn’t see before.
Allows time for you brain to buffer a solution to a problem by paying attention to where you are walking and watching out for the unexpected crossing your path. Here, in Arizona, it’s always heads up time for the natural critters who inherently have the right of way.
Walking provides access to sunlight’s Vitamin D production and stimulates the release of a growth factor for brain cells and their ability to create connective networks for thinking, planning, and memory. All good thing to have in a business brain.
Increases certain areas of the brain which have a tendency to shrink with age. The hippocampus which is vital to verbal memory and learning is susceptible but can increase its size with walking.
Most significant of all is that you want your brain to be a quality business partner for as long as possible. Walking and other aerobic exercises have been shown to delay the cognitive decline of aging and the dementia of Alzheimer’s.

“A study written up in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2001 tracked nearly six thousand women ages 65 and older for six to eight years. The women were given a cognitive test at the study’s beginning and end, the results of which were then correlated with how many blocks they walked daily. Those who walked the least had a drop of 24 percent in cognition. Those who walked the most still showed a decline, but of a lesser degree: 17 percent. The results were clear: “Women with higher levels of baseline physical activity were less likely to develop cognitive decline.”

Well, what are your plans for today? Maybe it’s time to consider the benefits of walking your business brain today.

Resources

Image: Pixabay 892309