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52 Ways to Walk

The Surprising Science of Walking for Wellness and Joy, One Week at a Time

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52 Ways to Walk

By: Annabel Streets
Narrated by: Deryn Edwards
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About this listen

 Bloomsbury presents 52 Ways to Walk by Annabel Streets, read by Deryn Edwards.

'Fascinating ... Connected both to old wisdom and new scientific frontiers of discovery' Lauren Laverne
________________________

'We can all learn something from 52 Ways to Walk. I know I can.' Michael Ball, BBC Radio 2
________________________

“Walking had become, once again, the great adventure of my life. But this time science could explain how and why”

Walking strengthens our bodies, calms our minds and lifts our spirits. But it does so much more than this. Our vision, hearing, respiration, sleep, cognition, memory, blood pressure, sense of smell and balance (to name a few) are all enhanced by how we walk. For instance:

· Walking in cold weather burns extra fat and builds more muscle.
· Walking alone strengthens our memories.
· Walking in woodland helps us sleep.
· And there’s nothing more restorative than a romantic nighthike.

Our choice of location, time, direction, duration, walking companion and gait, as well as the weather we opt to walk in, can transform our daily stroll. Here, Annabel Streets shares the thrill of 52 different ways to walk, explaining the latest science behind each one, and providing practical tips for making the most of your daily steps.

52 Ways to Walk is a revelatory and informative handbook for anyone stuck in a walking rut, curious about the lesser-known benefits of walking or merely in need of some on-foot novelty and adventure.
_________________________________
Beautifully designed and pocket-sized, 52 Ways to Walk is a love letter to walking.©2022 Annabel Streets (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Exercise & Fitness Fitness, Diet & Nutrition Walking Physical Exercise

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Critic reviews

"Walking adds greatly to our lives, and this insightful and wise book adds greatly to our walking. Page after page, it's a pleasure to follow in the author's footsteps." (Duncan Minshull, editor of Sauntering and Where My Feet Fall)

"Streets carefully breaks down the psychological and physical benefits of [walking], and makes a solid case that getting some movement in outside can help one 'appreciate the exquisitely complicated and beautiful world we inhabit'. Readers ready to hit the pavement will find plenty of inspiration and information here." (Publishers Weekly)

"Spiritual, educational, and informative." (Booklist)
All stars
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This book was such a delight! Full of ideas and tips on trips and hikes, as well as fascinating information about health and the seemingly limitless benefits of walking and spending time in nature. Most enjoyable!

What a delight!

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I listened to this while out walking. The narrrator has a lovely calm voice and the information in the book is fascinating. Definitely made me more present while walking and keen to vary my usual type of walking.

Beautiful book

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52 great ideas to enhance your walks. I particularly liked the consistent structure to each idea: A historical story; feedback on the author’s experience; scientific evidence; tips. The narration was full of energy, keeping my attention.

Inspiring

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I listened to this whilst on my daily walks. This was not, as the author recommends, the best way to approach the book. The book is divided into 52 separate chapters, each with its own theme - Walking in the winter / rain / cold / pilgrimage/ hills / seaside/ rivers / woodlands, etc. The author suggests pairing your reading (or listening) to the prevailing weather, local geography, time of year, purpose, etc. As an audiobook, I just pressed 'go' and worked my way through.

Each Chapter has an introduction to the 'science'/research underpinning the theme of the chapter. I found these sections the best part of the book. The rest of the content is the experiences / observations/ reflections/ musings of the author.

Well narrated by the author.

Keep on walking

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I not only found myself rewinding many especially interesting parts, but bought the hard copy before even finishing the audiobook so I can refer back when putting it into practice! What a great listen that was!

What a surprising hit!

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At the start the author/reader says you can dip in and out of this book; listen from start to finish or skip chapters, go backwards and forwards. It is such an easy book to navigate AND BENEFIT FROM.
I knew walking was good for you - it's common sense - but there is so much more research and information and facts in every chapter. For example, who knew that walking backwards is so beneficial? I have actually been doing this over the last week or so. At some point in the future many more of us will have workstations attached to a treadmill - what a great idea. And what a great book.

Great book

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I totally loved this book. It has inspired me - a reluctant walker - to love walking.

Excellent book.

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Annabell describes her book as 'a love letter to walking' and it is just that. She has increased my interest in and desire to walk everywhere, and to try new ways to walk. A beautiful and practical book to listen to. I'm off to buy the book now.

Absolutely beautiful

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Annabel Street book shares her joys and the benefits of walking. There's a whole section in the beginning of the introduction that includes all the reasons why people choose not to walk, but also all the benefits of why we should be walking. The weather's not right, and we don't have someone to walk with, it's too dark, we make a million excuses for why we don't want to walk and would rather take the car, even if it's just to the nearby shops. However, “regular walking helps millions of people to reverse diabetes, fend off heart disease, hold back cancer, lower blood pressure, reduce weight, counter depression and anxiety and so much more”. One study has concluded that “exercise has prevented almost 4 million premature deaths every year. Another study calculated that 35 chronic diseases could be prevented by exercise. When we move, hundreds of intricate changes take place inside our bodies. A 12 minute walk alters 522 metabolites in our blood – molecules that affect the beating of a heart, the breath of our lungs, and the neurons in our brain. Walking causes hundreds of muscles, joints, bones and tendons to move in an elaborate effortless sequence, propelling us forward but also triggering a multitude of molecule molecular pathways expanding our heart, strengthening our muscles, smoothing the lining of our arteries, shunting sugar from our blood and switching our genes on and off in a miraculous process known as epigenetic modification.” Walking can enrich our health and our mental well-being.
- COLD: “Cold, in moderation, is also good for our mental health. A study of Polish students found that fifteen minutes in a chilly, leafless forest had ‘substantial emotional, restorative, and revitalizing effects’, implying that nature can make us feel just as rejuvenated in bare winter as in green-gold spring. Finally, a spot of cold appears to reduce appears to reduce feelings of stress”
- BREATHING: It's worth noting that there are benefits when you breathe through your nose rather than through your mouth when walking or at any time so it's worth keeping this as a practice for when you walk at the benefits are good.
- DIRT: It's worth walking in muddy fields and walkways as these have benefits in regards to bacteria and also help you support with balance.
- SHORT WALKS: And if you can't take a long walk even if you just take a 12 minute brisk walk walking 120 steps each minute, then there will be benefits even in changing for short walk, and if you can find hills even better.
- EARLY WALKS: It's worth waking up and having an early morning walk in daylight. This is a fantastic way of getting vitamin D into our body which helps wakes up every side of our body and gets us ready for the day. A good early morning boost to support wellbeing. Early morning walks also seem to activate and energise more for the rest of the day and also reduces our appetite so that we don't want to eat more.
- It's interesting to note that people who own dogs have probably are going to have a to walk each day and these people have far less early death and better health outcome than those who don’t own a dog. The benefits may be due to not only companionship, but also having somebody that makes you walk more.
- LEARNINNG: It's worth just having a 10 minute walk before you learn something and the author explains all the reasons that we're now learning about why this might be the case.
- What I like about this book is the fact that it backs up everything was scientific evidence and evidence. Based research to show why the benefits of walking and the reasons for example, walking in the rain or dancing are a benefit to us.
- PLAY: Marian Diamond in 1964 and one of the founders of modern neuroscience, conducted ground-breaking experiments on rats in which she proved that rats with access to playthings had larger brains. Subsequent experiments came to the same conclusion, finding enriched rodents had greater levels of BDNF [brain derived near a traffic factor which is vital for growing and preserving brain cells], as well as better memories and sharper cognition. Play is not just the children and can be a benefit to us all including through walking.
- DARK SKIES AND THE MILKY WAY: There’s a fascinating story that in 1994 there was a power fault and all the power went off in Los Angeles and all the lights went off and everybody rang up concerned that there was some ominous, milky white cloud in the night sky. It turned out that people had never seen the Milky Way before. Can you believe it, sadly yes
- WALKING BACKWARDS: The book looked at the values of walking backwards, which I have tried and can be heard on the body, but is very good for you, and there is even some research that shows 10 minutes of walking backwards can help children with ADHD to concentrate for longer period and be more pay more attention to learning
- CONCLUSION: This book main job is to ensure that we walk and understand the benefits of walking and this job book does the job so well, it's short and pity and mainly includes selling facts on a wide range of different ways of walking which can benefit us all, along with sleep and a good diet to making sure we live healthy.

Get walking - its so good for you

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Both educational and inspiring. Excellent narration. The content is interesting and the structure of the book allows you to dip in and out easily. Recommended - even if you don’t walk that often!

A wonderful listen

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