Your brain on speed: Walking doesn’t impair thinking and multitasking

When we’re strolling down memory lane, our brains recall just as much information while walking as while standing still—findings that contradict the popular science notion that walking hinders one’s ability to think.

University of Michigan researchers at the School of Kinesiology and the College of Engineering examined how well study participants performed a very complex spatial cognitive task while walking versus standing still.

"We’re saying that at least for this task, which is fairly complicated, walking and thinking does not compromise your thinking ability at all," said Julia Kline, a U-M doctoral candidate in biomedical engineering and first author on the study, which appears online in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

The finding surprised researchers, who expected to see decreased thinking performance with increased walking speed, Kline said. The 2011 best-selling book “Thinking Fast and Slow” suggests that because walking requires mental effort, walking may hinder our ability to think when compared to standing still.

"Past studies that have compared mental performance at a slow walking speed and standing have not found any differences, but our study is the first to show that the walking speed doesn’t matter," said Daniel Ferris, professor of kinesiology and biomedical engineering and senior author of the paper.

"Given the health benefits of walking, we should not discourage people from walking and thinking when they want."

Ferris offered one caveat: previous research has shown that walking performance can be impaired in the elderly when they dual-task during gait.

Ferris, Kline and Katherine Poggensee of U-M’s Human Neuromechanics Laboratory measured the ability of young, healthy participants to memorize numbers and their placement on a grid, and then enter those numbers correctly with a keypad while walking different speeds and standing still.

"Think of filling numbers one through nine on a tic-tac-toe grid and then remembering where they all are," Ferris said. "At every walking speed and standing still, participants entered about half the numbers correctly."

While speed didn’t change task performance, people took wider steps when performing the task than when they were only walking, which may be to compensate and stay balanced while concentrating, Kline said.

All participants showed increased activity in areas of the brain associated with spatial relationships and short-term memory during the cognitive task. In keeping with the U-M findings, a recent Stanford study suggested that walking fueled creativity.

In addition to good news for treadmill-desk users or people who like to think on the move, the study provides a useful scientific tool by demonstrating that it’s possible to collect accurate EEG data on moving subjects, Kline said.

This is important to researchers who study the brain and are concerned about getting accurate results when the subjects aren’t perfectly still. U-M researchers achieved their EEG results by applying different signal-processing techniques to eliminate the movement “noise” from the EEG signal.

Boost your Immune System and Shake Off Stress by Taking a Walk in the Woods

Work, home, even in the car, stress is a constant struggle for many people. But it’s more than just exhausting and annoying. Unmanaged stress can lead to serious health conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

“The American lifestyle is fast-paced and productive, but it can be extremely stressful.  If that stress is not addressed, our bodies and minds can suffer,” said Dr. Aaron Michelfelder, professor of Family Medicine at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

Our bodies need sleep to rejuvenate and if we are uptight and stressed we aren’t able to get the rest we need. This can lead to serious physical and mental health issues, which is why it’s extremely important to wind down, both body and mind, after a stressful day.

According to Michelfelder, one of best ways to unwind and reconnect after a stressful day is by taking a walk. Though any walking is good, walking in the woods or in nature has been proven to be even better at reducing stress and improving your health.

“When we get to nature, our health improves,” Michelfelder said. “Our stress hormones rise all day long in our bloodstream and taking even a few moments while walking to reconnect with our inner thoughts and to check in with our body will lower those damaging stress hormones. Walking with our family or friends is also a great way to lower our blood pressure and make us happier.”

Research out of Japan shows that walking in the woods also may play a role in fighting cancer. Plants emit a chemical called phytoncides that protects them from rotting and insects. When people breathe it in, there is an increase in the number of “natural killer” cells , which are part of a person’s immune response to cancer.

“When we walk in a forest or park, our levels of white blood cells increase and it also lowers our pulse rate, blood pressure and level of the stress hormone cortisol,” Michelfelder said.

He also suggests reading, writing, meditating or reflecting to help calm the mind after long day. To help calm the body yoga and breathing exercises also are good.

“If you want to wind down, stay away from electronic screens as they activate the mind. Electronic devices stimulate brain activity and someone’s post on Facebook or a story on the evening news might cause more stress,” Michelfeder said.

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Child development varies and is hard to predict

On average, children take the first steps on their own at the age of 12 months. Many parents perceive this event as a decisive turning point. However, the timing is really of no consequence. Children who start walking early turn out later to be neither more intelligent nor more well-coordinated. This is the conclusion reached by a study supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Because parents pay great attention to their offspring, they often compare them with the other children in the sandpit or playground. Many of them worry that their child is lagging behind in terms of mental development if it sits up or starts to walk a bit later than other children. Now, however, in a statistical analysis of the developmental data of 222 children born healthy, researchers headed by Oskar Jenni of the Zurich Children’s Hospital and Valentin Rousson of Lausanne University have come to the conclusion that most of these fears are groundless.

Considerable variance
Within the framework of the Zurich longitudinal study, the paediatricians conducted a detailed study of the development of 119 boys and 103 girls. The researchers examined the children seven times during the first two years of their life and subsequently carried out motor and intelligence tests with them every two to three years after they reached school age. The results show that children sit up for the first time at an age of between slightly less than four months and thirteen months (average 6.5 months). They begin to walk at an age of between 8.5 months and 20 months (average 12 months). In other words, there is considerable variance.

The researchers found no correlation between the age at which the children reached these motor milestones and their performance in the intelligence and motor tests between the age of seven and eighteen. In short, by the time they reach school age, children who start walking later than others are just as well-coordinated and intelligent as those who were up on their feet early.

More relaxed
Although the first steps that a child takes on its own represent a decisive turning point for most parents, the precise timing of this event is manifestly of no consequence. “That’s why I advise parents to be more relaxed if their child only starts walking at 16 or 18 months,” says Jenni. If a child still can’t walk unaided after 20 months, then further medical investigations are indicated.

(Image: Getty Images)

Newborn babies walk the walk

Before you can run, you have to walk, and before you can walk well, you have to walk like a brand-new baby. A new study uncovers the logistics of newborns’ herky-jerky, Frankensteinian stepping action and how this early reflex morphs into refined adult locomotion.

In the study, electrodes on infants’ chubby legs picked up signals from neurons that tell muscles to fire, revealing that three-day old babies tense up many of their leg muscles all at once. Toddlers, preschoolers and adults, by contrast, showed a progressively more sophisticated, selective pattern of neuron activity.

From birth to adulthood, motor neurons in the spine get an overhaul as neurons in different  locations along the spine become specialized for various aspects of walking, such as foot position, balance and direction, Yuri Ivanenko of the Santa Lucia Foundation in Rome and colleagues conclude in the Feb. 13 Journal of Neuroscience.