The Shocking Science and Benefits of Taking a Simple Walk

In this episode, a renowned Oxford-trained neuroscientist teaches you the most incredibly simple, science-backed hack that will change every single part of your life in just 10 minutes.

Professor Shane O’Mara, bestselling author and Experimental Brain Researcher at Trinity College in Dublin, walks us through the mind-blowing research behind, of all things, walking.

You’ll be shocked to learn how the right kind of walking can lower depression and anxiety without medication.

Professor O’Mara explains 3 different types of walking: one way will boost your creativity, another will make you more productive, and a third way will make you a rockstar problem solver.

You’ll also learn about the incredible cognitive, mechanical, and physiological chain reaction that happens in your brain and body during a simple walk.

The research and neuroscience will empower you to use walking to help you:

• Conquer your fears.
• Make your brain younger.
• Reduce your stress and feel happier.
• Double the number of your creative ideas.
• Be more focused and productive at work.
• Turn off anxious thoughts.
• Decrease inflammation in your body.
• Improve your relationship with yourself and others.

If you’re short on time, bullshit. Put your earbuds in and get outside.

Are you ready? Hit play, and let’s walk.

Xo Mel 

‍

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• 05:29: Want a younger brain? Start moving.  
• 09:48: You won’t believe these benefits of a 10 minute walk. 
• 11:29: Is your environment working against you? 
• 16:28: Here’s how walking is just as good, if not better, than your antidepressant.
• 17:20: This is what happens when you get outside and into nature.
• 20:50: What the heck is a “walking mind”?
• 23:54: Walking makes you more creative if you do this.
• 31:34: Turn up your energy while you walk using this incredible metaphor.
• 32:56: The shocking study that explains how walking changes your personality.
• 36:07: Don’t have enough time for a walk? I call BS. Here’s why.
• 39:00: Dr. O’Mara suggests your walking routine should look like this.
• 42:32: 5 easy ways to get in more steps everyday.
• 47:03: This is why you want to make it a habit to walk at night.
• 52:06: Feel like you don’t belong? Here’s how walking can help. 

Resources and go deeper:

• For Closed Captions: Watch on YouTube and turn on “CC.” For instructions to turn on closed captions, click here.

Professor Shane O'Mara

• Find out more about Shane on his website. 
• Follow him on Instagram here.
• Sign up for his Substack here.
• Check out his blog on neuroscience, psychology, and science here. 
• Check out his book about walking here.

• Harvard School of Public Health: Don’t stress about 10k steps; even 4,400 steps work!
• American Psychological Association: Want to boost your mental health? Take a walk. 
• The Washington Post: Got 11 minutes? A daily brisk walk could lower risk for early death.
• Harvard School of Public Health: Walking daily may boost healthy aging.
• Stanford University: A landmark study found that creative output increased by a whopping 60% when participants were walking.
• National Library of Medicine: Walking improves memory and lowers memory loss.
• Harvard Health: The benefits of walking with friends.