5 Reasons Why Walking Is My Best Thinking Time
My alarm goes off every day around 4 pm. It’s not a loud alarm, but only I can hear it. It’s my internal walking alarm, letting me know it’s time to get ready to head out. Time to change, put on my shoes, fill a bottle with water, and grab some bubble gum and a bit of money. I always chew gum on my walk, and bubble gum is my gum of choice. Maybe it’s an odd habit, but it’s just part of my walk.
I don’t go for a walk to think, but it happens anyway. Of course, there are many health benefits to long walks, but the one that continues to surprise me is the thinking time it provides. That’s why I prefer to walk alone, with no distractions.
Walking creates the mental and emotional space to let my mind wander. It almost always drifts toward problems, issues, or decisions I need to make. Our best thinking doesn’t happen sitting at a desk or on the sofa. It happens when we’re moving and not forcing ourselves to focus.
This might sound counterintuitive. Isn’t it easier to concentrate when we’re sitting still? In theory, yes. But in reality, sitting often comes with interruptions. The phone rings, a message beeps, the kettle whistles, or someone asks for something. And just like that, the thought you were holding disappears.
When we’re out walking, or even doing something repetitive like hanging laundry, we settle into a rhythm. That’s when thinking becomes easier and more natural. Here are five reasons why.
1. The Mind Finally Slows Down
When you’re walking, there’s nothing competing for your attention. No screens, no interruptions. Your body falls into a steady rhythm, almost on autopilot, and your mind has space to catch up.
Thoughts that felt scattered begin to settle. Instead of jumping from one idea to another, they start to line up. It’s not forced. It just happens.
2. Problems Feel Smaller When You’re Moving
Problems can feel overwhelming when you’re sitting still, especially when you’re turning them over again and again. It can feel like facing a wall with no way around it.
But once you start moving, something shifts. The problem doesn’t disappear, but it changes shape. It feels less fixed, less final. Movement seems to open the door to possibilities.
There’s a line from a Leonard Cohen song about cracks letting the light in. That’s what it feels like. The situation is still there, but it no longer feels impossible.
3. Ideas Appear When You’re Not Looking for Them
It’s often when you stop trying to solve something that the answer appears.
On a walk, ideas seem to arrive without effort. A solution begins to make sense. A decision becomes clearer. Or something entirely new comes to mind that you hadn’t considered before.
You’re not forcing anything. You’re simply giving your mind the space to do what it does best.
4. Your Mood Lifts Without You Trying
As your thinking becomes clearer, your mood often follows. There’s no dramatic shift. It’s gradual. A sense of heaviness starts to ease. When you begin to see possibilities, even small ones, it changes how you feel.
You may not have a full solution but knowing there are options is often enough to lift your mood. That quiet shift can make a big difference.
5. You Get Clarity
By the end of your walk, you may not have all the answers, but you usually have direction. Things feel more manageable. You can see your options more clearly. Sometimes the decision is to act. Other times it’s to wait. Even that is clarity.
And with clarity comes a sense of calm. You’re no longer stuck in the same loop you started with.
Closing Reflection
Walking isn’t complicated or expensive, but it quietly supports both thinking and well-being in a way that’s easy to overlook.
Feeling refreshed after a walk can seem like a contradiction. The body may be a little tired, but the mind feels lighter. Some of the weight has been lifted. You return with a clearer head, a better perspective, and a sense that things are, at the very least, manageable.
Click for free access to my Substack, Retired Way Out There, where I publish a bi-monthly newsletter and provide handouts.
Another article to read might be Is Your Walking Speed a Health Red Flag? How to Test and Improve It.
Let’s Have a Conversation:
What does walking do for you? Is it your best time to think? What solutions have come to you during a walk?
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