Walking as a Powerful Tool for Cognitive Enhancement

By Rohan Parikh

Let’s imagine: You’ve spent hours staring absent-mindedly at your computer screen, trying to complete a challenging assignment. It’s getting a little frustrating. The words in front of you are merging together in a blur, and your concentration is wavering. No matter how much willpower you garner, you’re not really making any meaningful progress.

This time however, you make a different choice than usual. You rise up from your desk and decide to take a short walk. At first, you may internally believe you are simply procrastinating. After only a few minutes, though, you notice that your mental processes have gradually become more focused, and your mind feels like it is somewhat less muddled. Suddenly, the same difficult task that you were encountering so much trouble with earlier seems slightly less intimidating. This is likely not a coincidence. In fact, emerging scientific research is beginning to reveal that walking can actually be a powerful tool to improve the way your brain works.

At the same time, walking also remains as one of the oldest behaviors in human history, making it foundational to our very nature. This raises a question: What if the old, time-tested practice of moving one foot in front of the other, has actually been one of the most effective methods available to improve our minds?

Walking and the Brain

It turns out that when you walk, a series of impressive biological processes occur in your brain. Researchers have observed that aerobic exercises, such as walking, are often associated with increased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is a protein with several critical roles in the human brain. Specifically, BDNF promotes the formation of new neurons while also increasing the strength of connections between existing neurons. Much of this activity occurs in the hippocampus, which is a part of the brain that is heavily involved in memory and learning functions.

Modern research has begun to explore some of these proposed mental benefits of walking. For example, Erickson et al. (2011) conducted a major study demonstrating the impact of exercise on brain structure.

Older adults who walked quickly for 40 minutes, three days a week, had a 2% increase in the volume of their hippocampus after one year. This change, while potentially appearing minor at first glance, may have helped reverse the age-related loss of volume in certain brain regions by 1-2 years. Thus, the findings of this study suggest that walking does not merely help slow down the rate of cognitive aging, but may also possibly play a role in partially reversing it.

A Source of Creativity

In addition to these long term structural changes, walking can have a more rapid impact on the ability of the brain to engage in certain forms of creative thinking. In a study that examined this precise topic, Oppezzo and Schwartz (2014) compared the performance of individuals on divergent thinking tasks (a type of free-form and open-ended thinking that is often necessary for solving creative problems) while they sat versus while they walked. Individuals who walked performed significantly better than individuals who remained seated in terms of these tasks, and the positive effects of walking were present regardless of whether participants were walking outdoors or on a treadmill facing a blank wall, suggesting that the act of walking itself can have valuable mental benefits.

A Step Towards Mental Clarity

Additionally, walking provides something else of value, which is a relief from mental fatigue. As a result of modern environments that often feature constant stimulation through sources such as social media and short-form content, the ability to manage one’s attention has become an increasingly valuable skill. In this regard, a short walk outside, an activity that may provide a break from this continuous stream of distraction, can provide a mental reset for our brains, potentially allowing us to return to our desks with even greater focus.

At the same time, walking may also help reduce some of the factors that often limit mental well-being, such as negative self-talk. For instance, research conducted by Bratman et al. (2015) found that participants who took a ninety-minute walk through a natural environment exhibited decreased activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex of the brain. This portion of the brain is partially associated with certain ruminative thinking patterns and negative self-referring thought cycles. Therefore, taking a walk in outside environments, such as a park, might help us in overcoming the stressful mental chatter that often crowds out clear thinking.

An Accessible Tool

One reason why walking is such a unique cognitive tool is because of its extreme accessibility. Unlike some other forms of mental optimization that may require potentially expensive facilities or exclusive programs, walking is a much more broadly available avenue for this type of growth. The key, however, to maximize the amount of benefit obtained, is to make walking a consistent habit in one’s daily routine.

One Step at a Time

In the current day, we often spend considerable amounts of time and resources searching for new methods to improve our thinking, whether it be apps, supplements, or productivity systems. While these can certainly be helpful, perhaps one of the simplest and most overlooked solutions has been below us this whole time. Walking is not only an enjoyable period of mental contemplation and rest, but also an opportunity to bolster our physical and cognitive faculties.

Therefore, the next time you find yourself feeling stuck on a task, facing a curve of progress that appears to be flattening out, consider taking a short walk. Who knows, you might just find the breakthrough you’ve been waiting for.

Sources:

Bratman, G. N., Hamilton, J. P., Hahn, K. S., Daily, G. C., & Gross, J. J. (2015). Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(28), 8567–8572.

Erickson, K. I., Voss, M. W., Prakash, R. S., et al. (2011). Exercise training increases size of hippocampus and improves memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(7), 3017–3022.

Oppezzo, M., & Schwartz, D. L. (2014). Give your ideas some legs: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(4), 1142–1152.