NRECA Employee Benefits Weekly

Walk Away the Stress

Posted on Posted in Well-being

If 2014 was a stressful year for you, consider making walking a regular form of exercise in 2015.

The physical health benefits are well known: burning calories and helping prevent heart disease, to name a couple. But walking also can be a great stress reliever, reducing tension and anxiety.

Here are five ways walking can help you work off stress:

  1. It can put your brain in a meditative state.
    Walking through green spaces – in a park, for example – can shift your brain into a calmer state. A recent study* suggests this activity quiets the mind, increases awareness and allows for reflection.
  2. The outdoors helps you relax.
    It’s not just green space that can be a stress reducer; spending time in nature has been linked to stress relief. Taking a walk outside can improve memory and attention by up to 20 percent.1
  3. Walking boosts endorphins.
    Brisk walking can help release endorphins, which can reduce stress hormones and alleviate mild depression.2 As a result, your mood and self-esteem can improve.
  4. A group walk improves resiliency.
    For additional stress-relieving benefits, make walking a group activity. Social support while walking with friends, family or co-workers can improve stress resilience and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.3
  5. It pumps you up.
    Individuals living sedentary lifestyles experienced a 20 percent boost in energy and a 65 percent reduction in fatigue following walking-based exercise programs.4

For more tips on stress relief call Life Strategy Counseling, a benefit available to NRECA medical plan participants at no additional cost. You can speak with a counselor confidentially 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling 888.225.4289. Or access resources online by visiting apshelplink.com (enter company code: NRECA).

Sources:
*The urban brain: Analyzing outdoor physical activity with mobile EEG, 2013
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/03/national-walking-day-stress-relief-tips_n_2992972.html

1 http://phys.org/news/2012-02-green-spaces-stress-jobless.html
2 WebMD.com
3 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2921311/
4 http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/low-intensity-exercise-reduces-fatigue-symptoms-by-65-percent-study-finds/

Scroll to top