Entire schools of philosophy have been built on this activity, but of course we, who live in the rush of the 21st century, can get carried away by this, except it turns out that what we are talking about can nullify the effects of genes responsible for obesity, and reduce the desire to eat chocolate. And even prevent (or not) the development of cancer
Researchers from Harvard University have identified 32 genes associated with obesity It has been investigated On more than 12 thousand people, it was found that those who walked intensely for about an hour a day had a reduced effect of genes that predispose them to obesity. But that's not all. According to studies conducted by the University of Exeter, walking for a quarter of an hour reduces the desire to eat chocolate and other sugary foods. But even the risk of breast cancer, because American Cancer Society studies revealed that women who walked seven or more hours per week had a 14 percent lower risk of developing breast cancer than those who walked a maximum of three hours per week.
Many studies have shown that walking reduces pain associated with arthritis and can prevent inflammation. Protects the knee and hip joints, keeps them flexible, and strengthens them. But it also strengthens the immune system: we avoid colds and flu if we walk enough.
An analysis of more than a thousand men and women revealed that those who walked for at least 20 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week, had 43 percent fewer diseases than those who exercised once or less per week. If they get sick, they recover from the illness faster with milder symptoms. Don't think of it as a sport, although for many people it can be an alternative to running if they can't run because of knee, ankle and back problems, or if they're so heavy that they can't breathe. Walking can be done for a longer period, but we recommend it not only because it will give you a very beautiful and developed body, but also because the French philosopher Frédéric Gros swears by it.
Rambo's knee
Walking philosophy He begins his book by saying that if we want to get somewhere faster, forget about walking, and then “roll, glide, fly.” Because performance is not what is important in walking, and therefore it is not a sport either, only the light of the sky and the brilliance of the landscape. The theoretical background to walking for him is that the days spent walking are longer, and those who walk live longer.
Let every hour and minute deepen.
The total is great currency It is difficult because nothing could be less relevant today than the spread of walking, which slows down time, and at the same time it is very relevant, because we, people of the Western lifestyle, do not need anything as much as we need to slow down ourselves. That's why some people go for meditation and yoga, but sometimes it also passes in a hurry. We have to change our lifestyle, not just one hour on Tuesday and Thursday.
Walking can change our outlook on life. Let's just listen to Gross! He lists the great historical wanderers who interest him, starting with poor Rambo, who walked “obsessed and angry” throughout his life, across the country’s borders, from desert to desert, until his knee swelled when he was thirty-six years old, and that was the end of that. planted From his long career.
The freedom that comes from walking means that we are nobody, because the walking body becomes just one stream in the eternal cycle of life.
Thus Gross describes the essence of walkers being liberated from the grip of everyday life and that walking becomes a spiritual experience once everything is abandoned. It becomes a completely spontaneous state of flow, especially if the person carries nothing and no one to adapt to – he is able to blend in with his environment.
Among the famous walkers, he discusses the wanderings of Rousseau, who wanted to find the savage man in himself, and Thoreau, who applies to walking his saying, “He who kills time certainly harms eternity,” because we do not walk to kill time, but rather who We accept that we will pick its petals one by one, every second. The close relationship between walking and life is demonstrated by the fact that by doing nothing at all while walking (besides walking, of course) we return to a sense of being, which we probably last experienced in our self-absorbed childhood, when we were still able To admire the beauty of nature, the rustle of tree leaves, and the sparkle of the sun on the pond.
Pilgrims and climbers
Gross recalls how walking played a big role in everyone's life. We can choose our favorite among the ancient thinkers. We can follow Plato or the Peripatetics, who discussed Aristotle's doctrines while walking, but if we don't want to go back that far in time, there is the persistent walker Nietzsche. Or Gandhi, who walked peacefully for political reasons. Or Kierkegaard, who thinks and creates in his head as he walks, describing the silent, tragic journey of Abraham as he drags his sacrificial son Isaac behind him. He does not go because he believes, but because
Why should we walk? Gross says this too, because we feel happy in the process, and successful, especially when we look back and see the journey we have come. And because to live means to feel myself, this is precisely what makes the book both relevant and irrelevant at the same time. Because for a long time we have been prisoners of consumer society and believe that we can be happy if we own certain things, even though we… The joy of existence is existence itself. As we take our El Camino pilgrimage and look back, how far we have come; When we climb the 465-meter-high Mount Széchenyi in silence, it cleanses not only our lungs, but also our thoughts. We see and perceive more clearly, and become more active and profound. This is the beauty of walking.
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