Sunday.
Took a nap after work (for three and a half hours), wrote an entry on the computer and then a simple walk in St. Helena.
I find that I have to get away from the hospital after work. To just go back to my room and spend the evening there, within sight of the hospital, is just too depressing. Not that the hospital is in an ugly setting; it isn't. I've never seen a more beautiful setting for a hospital.
One needs a break from the work environment (especially when a person is living at work). I find these walks away from the hospital to be enormously helpful to my mental health.
Walks and mental health. We know that taking a walk four days a week for at least a half hour is as effective as anti-depressant medication to treat a mild depression. There is something in the movement which gets us literally "moving".
I also believe there is something to the bicameral motion of walking/running which helps to process problems and life issues. The transfer of balance across the two brain's hemispheres seems to stimulate problem solving abilities. You use both sides of the brain. For more on this, see Thom Hartmann's expensive, little book: Walking Your Blues Away.
3 comments:
Airport walking today -- Seattle, Mineapolis, Wasau, Wisconsin
1.78 miles.
Now attending the Small Wind Conference in Stevens Point, WI.
I run a couple of times a week. Nothing hardcore, just enough to lessen the guilt when I drink a beer or eat a piece of cake. But on the days I run, I'm just so much sharper mentally and have much more patience. There's no question that exercise is at least as good for us mentally as it is physically.
So true, Tim. So true...
Maybe next year I will do 365 Runs?
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