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The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

bbc.co.uk

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Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#21

Post by tluyben2 »

bflesch wrote: post #18
tluyben2 wrote: post #13

I walk insane lengths as it clears the mind and fosters creativity. I talk into my phone during that; either to colleagues or to a recorder and then type it in at home (no, speech to text does not work; if someone wants to work with me to get that working, that would be great but for now, it does not even work a bit; only gibberish comes out; it seems to have something to do with my way of talking which I am trying t…

That's very interesting. Please keep me in the loop when you make progress into that direction. Maybe something into the direction of augmented reality?

I tried AR with a homemade 'cardboard viewer' and after that a Homido with an Android phone and my pandora as keyboard but because the phone had only 1 camera and the glasses are way too heavy to walk with it was an absolute pain... Technology will improve there but it's definitely not there yet.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#22

Post by Xylakant »

amelius wrote: post #16

The problem with walking is that it does little to the body. Your heart rate stays normal, and thus it is not a cardiovascular exercise.

Why does it need to do something to your body? Wouldn't it be good enough if it does something beneficial to your mind?

Apart from that, go for a stiff 2 hour walk and then come back and tell me that it didn't do anything to your body. It's certainly not extreme sports, but it's still exercise, at least for your legs and your whole motion apparatus.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#24

Post by samdoidge »

brador wrote: post #12
jflatow wrote: post #2

I tend to bite my nails, especially when I'm programming or deep in thought. Last year I decided to start walking whenever I reach that point where I am fidgeting and can't sit still. It's totally changed the way I work for the better. I walk between 10-20 miles per day, and can get a lot of work done on those walks. Highly recommended, especially for people living in places with good weather and beautiful scenery.

I can see walking 10-20 miles a day being detrimental to your health long term. Knees, feet, hips, somethings gonna give. Good cushioned footwear and insoles is a must to limit the damage at that range.

It will be beneficial to many others parts of your health. I'm thinking it would be a net positive, vs not walking / exercising very much. I agree on cushioned shoes if walking on something like concrete.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#25

Post by thomasahle »

mseebach wrote: post #9

> But are people losing their love of the purposeless walk? BBC Magazine strikes again. No, they're not losing it, it's not "slowly dying". Did "people" at large ever have that? Having the time and energy to go aimlessly wandering was a luxurious privilege until very recently. If anything, the existence of "[a] number of recent books [that] have lauded the connection between walking - just for its own sake - and thin…

You are both centering your argument about whether or not people used to walk more or less than they do now. You are not presenting any more evidence than BBC did.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#27

Post by amelius »

Xylakant wrote: post #22
amelius wrote: post #16

The problem with walking is that it does little to the body. Your heart rate stays normal, and thus it is not a cardiovascular exercise.

Why does it need to do something to your body? Wouldn't it be good enough if it does something beneficial to your mind? Apart from that, go for a stiff 2 hour walk and then come back and tell me that it didn't do anything to your body. It's certainly not extreme sports, but it's still exercise, at least for your legs and your whole motion apparatus.

> Why does it need to do something to your body? Wouldn't it be good enough if it does something beneficial to your mind?

Well, why not ride a bicycle, and let both your mind AND your body benefit?

> Apart from that, go for a stiff 2 hour walk and then come back and tell me that it didn't do anything to your body.

I've tried this. I walked 1.5 hours a day, 5 times a week for about a year. Didn't lose a gram of body weight, while having a normal diet with limited refined sugars (I don't like sweet tastes). Switched to cycling (30 minutes a day), and feel much more in control now.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#28

Post by elcapitan »

Xylakant wrote: post #22
amelius wrote: post #16

The problem with walking is that it does little to the body. Your heart rate stays normal, and thus it is not a cardiovascular exercise.

Why does it need to do something to your body? Wouldn't it be good enough if it does something beneficial to your mind? Apart from that, go for a stiff 2 hour walk and then come back and tell me that it didn't do anything to your body. It's certainly not extreme sports, but it's still exercise, at least for your legs and your whole motion apparatus.

It probably does nothing for people who are otherwise working out, jogging etc. There it doesn't create a new stressor for their system to get better. But for people who otherwise mostly sit and drive in cars, even that little bit of walking will create steep improvements to their body.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#29

Post by pizza234 »

amelius wrote: post #27
Xylakant wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it need to do something to your body? Wouldn't it be good enough if it does something beneficial to your mind? Apart from that, go for a stiff 2 hour walk and then come back and tell me that it didn't do anything to your body. It's certainly not extreme sports, but it's still exercise, at least for your legs and your whole motion apparatus.

> Why does it need to do something to your body? Wouldn't it be good enough if it does something beneficial to your mind? Well, why not ride a bicycle, and let both your mind AND your body benefit? > Apart from that, go for a stiff 2 hour walk and then come back and tell me that it didn't do anything to your body. I've tried this. I walked 1.5 hours a day, 5 times a week for about a year. Didn't lose a gram of body w…

> Well, why not ride a bicycle, and let both your mind AND your body benefit?

If one gives a purpose (in the form of training/wellness) to a walk whose foundation is being purposeless, he's defeating the point.

The different is, more abstractly, about the cultures of producing 24/7, versus allowing oneself "not to produce".

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#30

Post by albertojacini »

Walking helps me in solving programming issues.

When I find myself stuck and my mind starts to loop around, I need to force myself to take a purposeless walk, around my office's block or little more. During the walk I stop thinking about the problem for a while and then resume from a new angle. It normally works very well.

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