Walk the walk (part 2): When to include strolls in your workday

Last week, I wrote about why strolling is great to increase your effectiveness and mood, including three tips on how to walk to achieve that goal. Over the last week, I got many questions from readers on when to best include walks in the workday to optimize productivity, especially in busy times. As it turns out, walks are especially viable and beneficial at the beginning and the end of your workday. 

Beginning the workday with a walk to the office gets that morning sunlight in your eyes, making you more alert. On top of that, walking primes you towards a calmer state, which helps you better handle all kinds of stressors throughout the day. If you’re interested in the underlying mechanisms, check out my posts on perfect mornings and walking for productivity.

Ending your workday with a walk home is also a great idea. At that time of day, the calmer state induced by walking helps you fall asleep later that night. Moreover, that practice gets evening sunlight in your eyes. While morning sunlight makes you alert, 20 minutes of evening sunlight provides a powerful signal to your brain that bedtime is approaching. That signal not only makes you more sleepy, but also protects you against some of the harmful effects of bright light at night.

In a nutshell, including strolls on your way to work and back home optimizes both productivity during the day and sleep at night. Of course, this is also viable when working from home – a walk around the block works just as well. So get outside!

Pro tip:
While walking also benefits your long-term health, forget about those 10,000 steps a day. That’s a marketing slogan invented by a Japanese pedometer company in the 1960s. Instead, 7,500 to 8,000 steps a day are plenty. This is the amount at which – according to recent studies – the positive longevity effects of walking max out.