How a short walk can boost your wellbeing

We can all be affected by stress, anxiety and depression at one time or another and thankfully there are many non-medical supportive activities that can help.

One activity that helps me stay positive is going on regular walks in my local area. If I don’t leave the house for a day or two, I feel tension creeping into my neck and back muscles and I begin to feel hemmed in, cornered, almost trapped. My form of medication is to grab a coat, headphones, don my walking shoes, pop my phone into my pocket and step out of the door. Here’s how my walk usually goes…

I leave the house and it’s a quick march on the pavement alongside the busy road. Music through the headphones drowns out traffic and my legs want to dance which usually ends in a strange awkward kind of wiggle walk if I’m not careful!

I turn into the country lane; it’s a brisk walk uphill and my heart and lungs get a good workout. I start to notice nature more, the changing hedgerows and the way light filters between tree leaves.

Once at the top, my pace slows. I look across fields to the sea. If the wind is seaward, I can sometimes smell the salty air. Headphones come off now, they’re no longer needed. There’s a momentary silence then my ears tune to birdsong, distant traffic, the wind.

My eyes spot butterflies, beetles, birds, my nose is bombarded by an abundant mixture of farmyard smells.

I saunter home, shoulders down, tension gone.