In Praise of Walking: A New Scientific Exploration

by Shane O'Mara

elderly adults to participate in thrice-weekly, and relatively undemanding, walking groups.8 In the regular walking group, over the course of a year, the normal ageing of the brain areas providing the scaffolding for learning and memory is somewhat reversed in the walkers, by perhaps about two years or so. An increase in the volume of these brain areas was also found; this is quite remarkable in itself, suggesting that the act of regular walking mobilises plastic changes in the very structure of the brain, strengthening it in ways similar to how muscles are strengthened when worked. One way of interpreting the literature on ageing and walking is straightforward: you don’t get old until you stop walking, and you don’t stop walking because you’re old. Lots of regular walking, especially if conducted at a high tempo, with an appropriate rhythm, forestalls many of the bad things that come with ageing. Walking is also associated with improved creativity, improved mood, and the general sharpening of our thinking. Periods of aerobic exercise after learning can actually enhance and improve recall of the previously learned material. Reliable, regular, aerobic exercise can actually produce new cells in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that supports learning and memory. Regular exercise also stimulates the production of an important molecule that assists in brain plasticity (known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF).9 The phrase ‘movement is medicine’ is correct: no ...