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Comment by jacobmischka | Hacker News Reader

I'm a massive fan of walking for mental, psychological, and physical benefits and have been walking at least 25k steps a day for the last two years. The only (somewhat major) downside is that it takes quite a bit of time, some days, particularly weekends when I don't have work to do, I look at the clock and it's approaching dinner time and I feel like the day just disappeared without being able to sit down and relax at all.

25k is excessive in that regard and I wouldn't recommend that much, but 10k is incredibly achievable and I would highly recommend anyone make a habit of walking every day.

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I hate gym culture and I hate running too because the exercise is the 'core' of what you're doing in that time. Walking works for me because I can listen to new music and podcasts or sometimes just go through my mental monologue backlog without any stress. Living in an extremely walkable European capital is also a plus.

Human legs are heavily optimized for walking. Running is a hunting/fleeing mechanism and it just feels wrong for me to artificially simulate that stress environment.

> I can listen to new music and podcasts

That's exactly what I started doing last year when covid hit. Before then, I used to do decent running / stepper cardio in the gym. When covid hit, I cancelled my bus pass membership and have been walking everywhere since then. I do all my groceries, buying pet food etc walking. It takes about 40 minutes and I get to listen to podcasts during then. I have even started to "plan" my groceries - so I only buy around 2-3 days worth of meat and that ends up forcing me to leave the house at least every couple days. I sometimes plan things like buying larger items like toilet paper on separate days so I can walk with all my items without having to do uber or something else.

Yes haha, I've also been 'cheating' myself to walk more. Grocery planning as you mentioned, also picking up food from far away restaurants that I miss due to the lockdown.

> Walking works for me because I can listen to new music and podcasts or sometimes just go through my mental monologue backlog without any stress.

That's why I like running.

Any sort of intense exercise makes it impossible for me to actually think or concentrate on listening. It's a heightened state in many ways biochemically and is very different from the calm that walking gives.

Running would just make what I'm listening to background noise, but that's not the correct level of engagement I want. I want 'exercise' to be the side effect and not the main activity I'm engaging in. Running is the other way around.

You could try running significantly slower (jogging, ~10 min/mi pace). Worked well for me.

Yes this is actually an important factor that is often overlooked.

For the longest time i ran really fast to the point of exhaustion, ,sometimes with small pauses interval style.

Then i tried running slower, which was actually hard for me for some reason, but could go much longer, and with less tax on my sympathetic nervous system and joints.

I've also seen people do the "powerwalking" thing so that's also an option.

Have you tried running on CBD?

Explain?

Running high

Use CBD (from cannabis) tincture in the mouth, or loose leaf vaporized, before and after running, can reduce recovery time and inflammation.

I think you are running too fast. For years I detested running because of what you mentioned as well as it just draining me mentally. My mistake was trying to kill myself on every run. Now I run significantly slower- by the end of most of my runs I am not even breathing heavily. This is actually recommended, as well

My dad is a competitive runner and ultramarathoner (now well into his 60s). One of his favorite sayings is ‘how do you know if you’re a runner? If you don’t think about running while doing it.’ I finally got into it too, and for me/us it’s much more like meditation. Or taking a hot shower. I let my mind wander, come up with most of my best ideas, and generally don’t think much about running while out there.

If you can’t do this you’re probably running too fast for your fitness level. I was for a long time.

That's interesting. I don't usually think about running while running. And I do find the state somewhat meditative, especially since I find I usually observe my breathing and the sound of my feet on the ground.

But this feels more like a "trance" to me, in that I seem to not actively think about anything at all, I just "observe".

I generally can't think coherently if I'm doing a 9mph interval for a short time (this is 170-180bpm heart rate territory for me) but I actually prefer that mental state. I wish I could get that same mindset at my lower speed (5-6mph) because the time melts away. It feels like a flow state in a good way but with no focus.

I agree, and also find it meditative. I also feel like your thoughts engage differently when running. Some of the most incredible conversations I've ever had have been on long runs (marathon training, so multi-hour runs) with a friend - at some point you just start sharing and releasing vulnerability, and discuss things you would never talk to each other about otherwise (for clarity, not because it might be an embarrassing topic, but rather just very internal).

A neighbor's son runs cross country for his high school. She quoted him last fall or winter as saying that he didn't miss the classroom, he missed the conversations on long training runs. It has been a long time (maybe 35 years) since I did much running with anyone, but I do remember conversations.

When reading about improving sleep, it seems the evidence points toward rhythmic exercise being important. The repetition of running and swimming seems to help (vs say interval training).

> I want 'exercise' to be the side effect and not the main activity I'm engaging in. Running is the other way around.

What I meant is for me running is the background and it's mostly automatic. I can listen or think about things and they are my primary focus.

I'd say it takes a few months to get to this level but for most people it's doable.

You should try running slower at a conversational pace. It's much more aerobic at that pace, and is more meditative and more stress-relieving than stressful.

> Running is a hunting/fleeing mechanism and it just feels wrong for me to artificially simulate that stress environment.

"Artificially simulate that stress environment?" Is that a joke? Exercise is [physical] stress. What about that seems "wrong" to you?

There's an argument that stress is bad, because it forces the body to prioritise immediate survival at the expense of long term health.

However, simulating a hunt should be good for the health since it informs the body that it is in a prey rich environment. The same goes for other stressful but evolutionary fitness promoting activities such as sex.

Any stress-related problems from running (not a point I'm conceding as I've never seen evidence of any) certainly outweighs the long-term problems from being overweight and out of shape with the lower respiratory capacity to boot.

No, no humour was intended by a purely subjective statement that intense exercise is more or less a deeply unpleasant experience for my body and my brain. The fact that it is beneficial to long term vitality is orthogonal to how it makes me feel and why I am almost never motivated to do it.

Just to be clear: if running is "intense exercise" that means you're doing it wrong, and you will have a much better time of it if you slow down to easy conversational pace. (People usually use the run-walk method to develop such a pace in the beginning.) The thing about exercise and human biology is that there is some room for subjective statements, but not that much room. I, for one, find it quite pleasant about exercise that it doesn't matter how it makes me feel temporarily, that it works so long as I do the right thing.

I understand what you're saying and in my experience, while lifting weights or running, I don't really think about anything but the current action.

However, I find that taking this time "off" from my usual activities, especially during the work day, is like a breath of fresh air (pun not initially intended).

Yes, I also find that walking allows me to either listen to podcasts, music, or just think about random things. I will even start walking around my apartment or my parents' garden when I need to think over a difficult problem.

But I find, more and more, that being "on" all the time and trying to optimise every last minute of the day isn't all that... optimal.

Taking, say, an hour off work every day [0], during which I absolutely do not think about work at all, and only focus on the feeling of my muscles working or my breathing during a run has enormous consequences on my thinking about work when I actually get back. I find that this helps be much, much more focused than had I staid at my desk browsing random things on the internet or even walking and having my thoughts drift back to whatever it was I was working on. Bonus points for this removing my back and other random pains while sitting.

To me, those are different "tools", each with its own purpose.

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[0] I don't run for long periods of time and am not looking to run a marathon. My goal is usually to run around 30 minutes, just enough to give my cardiovascular system a bit of a workout. So all in all, it takes me around 1h, counting the cool-down period (when the thinking random thoughts process comes back), washing my clothes and showering.

Me too! I call it "hamster wheel exercise" (not sure where I heard that term). Bike commuting to work feels very different than simply biking in a circle after work.

Pandemic has not been kind to the bathroom scale. I lost my regular exercise but my diet got worse from stress eating.

10-15k steps is (relatively) easily achievable simply by not driving. Walking to the office, walking to the shop, walking over to a friend's house for dinner, etc. It takes a little more time than driving, but not as much as one might fear (I'm guessing, I've never owned a car). It keeps you fit(ish). It helps you sober up after getting drunk in a bar. It helps you unwind from a shitty day at the office. Throw in the occasional random walk and you'll reach 10k+ easily.

I basically do everything on foot that is within a 5k step radius. I make allowances for when I'm carrying heavy stuff (once made the mistake of walking 7km with a 10liter bucket of paint). It's not something I would recommend to everyone, but I would recommend it to almost everyone.

That really only works in urban areas, the suburbs are just too spread out. It would take me over that many steps to get to a bus stop that would get me to work. If I wanted to walk the whole way, I'd be walking along roads without sidewalks most of way. Google maps has it as over 4 hours to get to my closest friends place on foot, a 25 minute drive.

Wow, 25k is a LOT! I try to average 7-8k a day, and post-Covid I hope to bring that average to 10k a day. It's the perfect base to stay healthy for me, with all other more intense cardiovascular exercise (e.g. strength training or HIIT) being extra 2 or 3 times a week.

25k would really take a huge chunk out of my day, I think at least 3 - 3.5 hours or so. But it really depends, working from home means I'm sedentary all day. In other jobs you wouldn't have to squeeze everything into the few evening hours so much.

The biggest issue I have with walking is that the city becomes a bit boring. I love walking and exploring, but I've also lived in the capital city of my country for decades. Every day is new and brings new little experiences, yet also many similar ones. Especially because I'm always leaving and returning from and to the same place, there's a limit to my routes. I've walked the same streets thousands of times by now. On holidays in Europe or Asia I easily hit >40k steps daily because it's just so much fun, every corner brings something new, architecture, a river, a forest, a square or park, or lots of little shops or eateries or public art pieces.

Agreed, it is much more pleasant when exploring. These days I also end up often seeing mostly the same things in my few staple routes, but also usually something new as well.

I usually listen to audiobooks or bring a book to read when taking a path I've taken before, which usually alleviates the boredom problem. But it's not always necessary, sometimes if I'm in an energy surplus from delicious bread and sweets walking just feels so good on its own.

> The biggest issue I have with walking is that the city becomes a bit boring.

Check out StreetComplete -- I find it a great way to give walks a little more purpose.

https://github.com/streetcomplete/StreetComplete

I do these walks on weekends. Doing 25k steps usually takes me a little over 3 hours (3 and ~20 mins). I walk the exact same route each time. When I work in the office, on such day I usually do about 10k step. I wish I had the time to walk more, for me it's almost as good as sleeping (brain wise).

Maybe shift a bit to running? You should be able to jog without breaking much of a sweat now, and it's more time-efficient than walking for getting steps in.

I do also run occasionally when the weather is nice. My cardio of choice is bicycling, which I do twice a week either for 1.5 hours on a trainer or 40 miles (~2.5 hours) outdoors.

I used to run a lot more, but I never actually enjoyed it. I just forced myself to do it to burn calories. Walking I enjoy much more, so I do that more now instead.

For me, I really like getting out for a walk but don't care for running at all. It's not a matter of sweating--if there were walking/hiking available that involved some climbing convenient I'd do that. But just don't enjoy running and it falls into the category of maybe tomorrow.

Agreed, sweating and needing to take a shower afterward is annoying, and I also tend to push myself to near limit when running so I'm just completely out of breath the entire time and miserable. And my knees get pretty annoyed with me if I do it too often or for too much at a time.

Weighted or incline walking is a great compromise to increase effort, but I do enough strenuous activity with weight training that I would rather take it easy and enjoy the walk instead most of the time.

> 25k steps

14 mi, 22 km, 3.5+ hr?

I had a mentally rough start to my work life. I graduated as an engineer in 2009 and for several years I couldn't really make much choices for myself, but after 7 years I quit having a boos. I now work for myself and all is good.

Anyway. One of the important steps (pun somewhat intended) of getting back in mental shape was to walk part of the way back from work. If I would have walked all the way that would probably have been something like 80 k steps and I could get off the train at several places on that way. And since I could also get on it again I could both choose the length of my walks and the vary where they took place.

My record during that period was a day where I in tota walked almost 40 k steps. There is something that happens after about 3-4 hours of walking like that. At least I can achieve something similar to a runners high. Also, I had some problems around let's say my more sensitive parts, which also got completely fixed by that treatment.

If you've just walked for 1-1.5 hours, that's still good and everything. But if you have the time and have some mental/physical problems, and like walking, try 3-4 hours several times a week. There's some magic in that. I recommend having a start and a goal but taking different paths and exploring. Listen to some pods sure, but also explore and think. Most important though, put in those 25 k + steps, and do it in a pace you like!

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