Is Walking Really All That Good for Your Brain?

If you’ve been a reader of mine for long, you know how strongly I feel about the incredible effects of intense, interval-style exercise.

The science clearly shows that this form of exercise, although not all that much fun, is the most efficient way to prevent disease and stay optimally functional as you get older.

But does that mean that all exercise has to be intense to have some value?

Recent research just presented at the Experimental Biology 2017 annual meeting answers this question.

Traditionally, the blood supply to the brain has always been thought to be involuntarily regulated by the nervous system, and relatively unaffected by exercise.

But researchers at New Mexico Highlands University recently discovered something that is changing all that. They enlisted the help of 12 healthy young men and women and used ultrasound to measure the blood flow through their carotid arteries.

First, they measured the carotid artery blood flow while the subjects were standing at rest. Then they measured the flow while they were walking at a moderate pace (about one step per second). Finally, they looked at their blood flow while they were running and cycling. The carotid arteries are the major arteries that supply blood to the brain. The greater the flow through the carotids, the more blood is going to the brain. Here’s what they found.

The most significant increase in blood flow to the brain happened during running. While it wasn’t as great as running, walking also produced a significant increase. And here’s the thing that surprised me. Cycling, my favorite form of exercise, did not increase the blood flow at all. Why?

It’s because the research team found that the increase in blood flow was caused by impact on the foot. This impact causes retrograde (backward-flowing) waves through the arteries that sync with the heart rate and stride rate to dynamically regulate blood circulation to the brain. Who would have guessed? And since there’s very little foot impact during cycling, the same increase in brain blood flow does not happen.

So, walking definitely has its place when it comes to improved blood flow to the brain. And don’t forget that although walking is not nearly as effective as intense interval training on disease prevention, it’s still helpful.

Studies have shown that in people who don’t get any other form of exercise, walking just two miles a day reduces the risk of death by nearly 50%. Walking in the morning reduces that risk even more. You can even reduce the risk of cancer by walking. So, feel free to take that walk any time you want to. It’s doing your brain a lot of good.