I was a doubter until COVID. Then I built a habit of 30 to 60+ minutes of walking a day, ~1.5 to 5mi depending on length and pace.
Geez, the amount of stuff I got done, problems I solved, and general boost to well-being I achieved was lost on me until a job pushed those walks out of the workday. My productivity wasn’t the same.
Definitely going to block off a walk around the harbor during most workdays going forward so I can refresh the slate so to speak.
I'm convinced that humans can't (or at least, shouldn't) actually work 8h a day. I'd argue that taking an hour to exercise or walk during the work day and working maybe 6 hours would make people more productive and happier than just working 8h.
Unfortunately management thinks that lines of code written or token usage or seats in butts or {insert random quantitative metric} equals peak productivity.
Relatedly, I'm convinced that humans cannot achieve any form of peak performance in any domain (athletics, art, business, community organizing) without consistently going for walks. We're all aware of the programmer working at a problem for hours, going for a walk, sitting down, and then elegantly solving the problem in a few lines of thoughtful code (haven't we all experienced this?), and here is an example in another domain...
I have never been at my best rock climbing performance without a substantial amount of walking; even if I am training well, eating well, sleeping well, climbing with others, and super enthusiastic, the element of walking is for some reason critical.
My suspicion is that the human body is designed for walking (eg, we are upright, our shoulders adapted to swing the arm) and that myriad processes simply will not occur or will not occur optimally without walking. I believe restoration on a cellular level is enhanced by walking, that various cognitive and sub-cognitive processes are aided by walking, and that many of these processes sync up with a sort of supermodular (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermodular_function) effect when walking.
I argue that taking a minute or two every hour or so to do a few reps of an exercise clears people's thinking, lends perspective, provides fresh ideas, is great for general mental health, and hence, makes people more productive and happier than sitting for 8 hours or more and going to a gym after.
Small training sessions at work, throughout the day, are also great to build a strong team spirit and feel pumped all day. Unfortunately, people tend to rigidly compartmentalize rather than seamlessly integrate physical activity into their lifestyles.
Besides the productivity boost (and I know you already mention a boost to your well-being), this is one of the simplest yet effective things you can do to improve your cardiovascular health. I had a heart attack at 40 and 30 mins a day is the minimum recommended, so 60+ is great.
But back to your productivity angle: Stephen Wolfram wrote about the productivity benefits (for him) of walking while working: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2019/02/seeking-the-prod...
It reminds me about this video where John Cleese talks about creativity. One of his points is that his work was better than some of his more talented peers simply because he set aside more time to let ideas mature:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb5oIIPO62g
Jumping spiders are extremely intelligent for their size. Something they do when they encounter a complex problem is sit and apparently simulate potential solutions until they settle on a plan.
Their solutions can involve indirect routes, paths that initially increase the distance to their targets, etc.
Walking, or jumping, is inherent to their existence. But the ability to wait and iterate on possibilities is uncommon strategy for tiny things.
> Something they do when they encounter a complex problem is sit and apparently simulate potential solutions until they settle on a plan.
Now imagine what ingenious plans they could come up with if only they took a walk instead of sitting while thinking!
Have you read this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Time_(novel)
How did we find that out? Are they physically acting out the stuff they’re simulating or is there an EEG for insects?
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334693268_Portia's_...
Would be fun to see if they could learn to think with Portals
We might found out that not having our assumptions about topology gives them an advantage on us!
They might be well adapted to twisty little passages too.
maybe someday we can put spiders in a VR harness, like we can do with mice now...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-024-02554-6 "Moculus"
It's our evolutionary background.
Land animals first evolved intelligence when we emerged from the cloudy, murky sea and developed the ability to see shapes (predators, prey) really far into the distance. This required the ability to understand the future and perform spatial reasoning. Not all aquatic species were exposed to such pressures (opportunities), since line of sight vision (especially traveling at speed) is limited.
We got really smart when we became endurance hunters and out-walked and out-ran our prey. Bipedal locomotion and sweating were clutch advantages for sure, but our brains became especially attuned to multi-tasking when walking and running. We could see our prey far into the distance and could plan hours in advance for how to exhaust and corner it. Especially as a group activity. This engaged spatial, temporal, collaborative, and complex reasoning.
We didn't evolve to think at a desk. We evolved to think because it greatly enhanced our hunting skills and survival fitness.
When you walk or run, you're directly engaging machinery that was fine tuned over hundreds of thousands of years.
I’m always very cautious of “evolution” as a justification for any health/wellness advice. I’d like to preface this point by saying I am a fan of daily walk, and do about 30mins of very hilly terrain daily. I just don’t like your argument for it.
1. It’s really easy to create a fictional narrative of what our ancestor’s activity was 50k years ago because of the lack of empirical evidence. The truth is we know only a little and guess at a lot.
2. It’s been associated with many false claims. So many fad diets, fad supplements, and fad exercise routines have made use of evolution to build a narrative of why it’s healthy. I’ve seen both carnivore and vegans use evolution to explain why their diet is correct.
3. The modern environment is just different than the pre-historical environment. We have clean drinking water, unlimited sodium, modern medicine, air conditioned and heated shelter. To me the real question is what is the healthiest decision for me, not what is the healthiest decision for someone 50k years ago.
Whatever it is, clearly sitting 8+ hours in a chair is no healthy way to live. You don’t have to ask what our ancestors did. You can see it in our bodies. What does a healthy body take? Something on the order of 3-4 days a week of intense exercise. Seeing past 20 feet from time to time to avoid eye strain. Getting sufficient sleep. Time to relax to let stress blow off. Simple, obvious truths, but few of us actually live them with the pressures of modern society.
I’m more triggered by someone using a weak argument that is in support of something I also support. The amount of direct empirical evidence for the health benefits of walking is so huge that we shouldn’t relay on the evolutionary argument, which is often associated with scams and pseudo-science.
Furthermore I’m saying that even if there was a very solid evolutionary argument for a specific human health behavior, it would answer the question “what helped humans 50k years ago reproduce”, instead of “how can I live a healthy life in the 21st century.”
There are highly intelligent species such as whales and dolphins, which cannot walk nor run. There are also highly intelligent species that generally do not walk, such a octopuses and birds. Also you skipped other ways of locomotion, such as crawling and climbing. Sure locomotion is crucial, but it's not a simple just a switch to walking. You made it seem like intelligence is only about walking and running, but in reality intelligence was acquired as a long process of various adaptations. Other examples for crucial adaptations that are completely missing from your narrative would be communication, prosociality, or tool-using
Most of those animals don't have a significant part of my genetic heritage. There are lots of ways to an end, how humans got here is different from others. The comment boxes here don't allow for the space needed to write a book so it is expected to leave out a lot of details.
They can speed up and jump out of the water, making big splashes when diving back in again. Obviously for fun. They won't just float under water, and their mechanisms of movement have evolved in their environment, just like ours did for us.
I don't see your point? Not seeing the forest because of all the trees?
Octopussies have fun moving in weird ways, too. Also exploring, and making fun of captors!
Birds...did you know that their five feathers on the ends of their wings are the equivalent of our fingers, neurologically/network-wise? They sense the currents of the air with them.
Whatever. I think, no matter which species you are belonging to, it can be good to have these systems in more or less autonomous action, moving by themselves, while having a somewhat detached mind, soaring along, thinking about other stuff than the usual chores.
Edit: Maybe something like micro-dosing a little bit of 'Runner's high' by walking aimlessly?
> their five feathers on the ends of their wings are the equivalent of our fingers, neurologically/network-wise?
When was the last time you saw a feather? (Or a bird).
The primary feathers of a bird's wing are anchored to the bird's "hand bones". In modern birds these bones are kind of grown together into a big lump, but the outermost five primaries are attached to the five fingers, or what used to be digits in the bird's ancestors.
Almost daily? Having Hummingbirds atm. Sometimes collecting them in a basket after sudden coldsnaps, warming them up slowly from hibernation, and feeding them :-)
Edit: Have you ever had a big white swan spread his wings, and touch his five feathers against the spread fingers of your hand? 'Gimme five' so to speak. I did.
As I did with Seagulls, Crows/Ravens, Starlings, Blue tits, Robins, city and forest Pigeons, and really long ago a common Swift, which I successfully raised.
Do you have a photoblog?
Nope. I have no public personal presence on any webs. (intentionally)
Thinking about the possible reason you're asking:
I've stopped trying getting good pictures anyways, long ago.
I came to the conclusion that any camera, be it digital compact, action, smartphone irritates the animals. They may be curious initially, but as soon as the electronics try to 'rangefind/sharpen/focus' the picture they are gone. Or getting angry. Not even thinking of flash.
Edit: It destroys the moment. Be it by sounds, or even visible laserfingers fanning out. Or maybe distracting me from holding my internal projection of intent and movement upright. Which I'm thinking of having some impact on the goodwill of the involved animals, too.
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Same here. I have a personal mind frame of:
This golden rule has given me more benefits - including finishing the task way faster I would have taken longer if I just sat in front of the computer.I always found walking around throwing a stress ball as I think out a new feature far more effective then heading straight to the computer. Much easier to think out the abstraction then getting stuck in the details of my first solution, and only realising a the flaws/a better way hours later.
Convincing people it's an important part of working though, that was the tough one. And now if you spend any time thinking people want you to use Ai for the thinking bit...
Take advantage of canceled meetings.
I step outside and enjoy nature for those few minutes, even if it is just to watch nature.
A few years back I was freelancing by the sea. Every few hours, I'd walk down to the shore and look at the ripples and the waves. I'd go maybe three times a day. I remember this being — aside from profoundly meaningful in itself — very refreshing and beneficial for my work.
I love to walk and think through things, but I honestly think walking itself is just a tool. It just allows your mind to wander as long as you are not busy (not alone, listening to a podcast, etc) and in the modern world it is a bit too easy to get distracted.
Yes, walking could be thought of as a tool to let the mind wander but I think it does more than that and is so widely available to most that it could be turned into a good habit. It's possible any movement would do but how available is swimming for example?(or running in a lunch break without worrying about the sweaty clothes)... It's also easy enough that one needs not build up motivational energy to go for it, could be just an auto pilot habit that never stops on giving back.
Same here. I'll add that this also happens to me with stuff other than walks. For example when taking a shower, or while I'm falling asleep. All activities that allow me to break free from the work I was doing while at the same time not being too demanding to the point where I can think of something else
You were a doubter… as in you thought it was normal to sit inside your house the entire day (or for over 12 hours) without going outside at all? Or what?
Yes, some people, particularly coders, are exactly like that, especially when they're young and everything feels like it comes easily. Young coders can sit for hours on a single task if they're really into it and make good progress. As you get older, and the cognitive load increases, you're forced to find out what you did before doesn't work anymore.
Did you do it in the middle of the work day, or at the begining?
Um, could it have been the job itself that killed your productivity and not the walks?
Do you listen to anything while walking, or just listen to nothing while letting your mind clear itself?
Not OP, but it has to be a walk with no headphones for me. As I walk, thoughts seem to bubble up from my subconscious and present themselves for consideration. This doesn’t happen as often if I’m listening to music.
I decided to go offline for this summer. I got a dumb phone and a card for public transportation, instead of the app I'm using now.
Downtime from the algorithmic manipulation has been the breeding ground for my creativity and this is one more step to this direction.
I wish more people knew you can turn iPhones and Androids into dumbphones through MDM and other methods. It would save people money , you wouldn't have to sacrifice security, and they wouldn't complain about losing Google maps or Signal.
Result is no ability to install apps and no web browsing. It's really a smart, smartphone because you get the benefits of it being smart without becoming dumb through the distractions.
Anything I can remove, I can restore. So yes and no.
Few people have the willpower to stand against the addictive design, but I'm not one of them :D
You can use a password to make it so you can't restore. That's the difference with my methods.
There are various ways to store the password to allow some level of management. Give half of it to a friend, write it down, make it super long.
Why fight the system when you can just leave the system?
It would save people money, you wouldn't have to sacrifice security, and they wouldn't complain about losing Google maps or Signal.
Paper maps still work. What do you sacrifice in security in a dumb phone? A dumb phone is much cheaper. You can still call your friends.
Increasingly services want 2fa and other bullshit that only really plays nice with a modern smartphone. They don’t sell a lot of dumb phones fwiw. The network that your old one in the drawer ran on is shut down. The new “dumphones” are usually android phones designed for old people with poor eyesight and dexterity.
It's a mental thing too, the years of habit have built up such that for me smartphones are associated with distraction.
It's like deciding to quit smoking but using an empty cigarette pack to carry your credit cards. Sure, I'm not smoking, but every time I pay for something I have to squash the urge.
I deleted my browser and installed an app on my phone to block all apps except the ones that I have in an allowlist
So you have an article you can point to?
Cider9986 answered for Android, so I'll throw out a suggestion for iPhone.
Assistive Access on iPhone might be an option for people looking for something drastic. Turning it on is simple, but it's pretty brutal and a bit crude in some ways even compared to a feature phone. Your mileage will vary! It's something I often suggest, and never quite recommend.
https://support.apple.com/en-sg/guide/assistive-access-iphon...
You pick the apps you want access to, and the permissions each should have, set a password, and then when you turn Assistive Access on, the phone reboots into a very limited mode. You can have every app you want, but when I've played with it, I've still found it felt too limited for daily use. Maybe I wouldn't find that if I was at the point of buying a feature phone. I can't remember what frustrated me, except that I remember being pleasantly surprised by how much worked, and frustrated by some basic things.
As an example, I was impressed that I could turn on and off a VPN through an app, even though I couldn't see the status of it outside the app. On the other hand, the location permissions felt buggy, and the locations permission changes in Assisted Access mode seemed to mess with the settings in the normal mode too.
I didn't use an article, I just followed the principles and had an LLM do the android debug bridge commands.
Here is an article I found later which did the same thing as me.
(https://jordanherzstein.neocities.org/posts/adb_vanadium/)
For Android basically:
Live in user profile, keep owner profile with appstores. Push apps that are distractions free into user profile.
Use ADB to remove the built in browser because you can't just delete it or not install it because it's a system app. On GOS it's the only system app that is distracting, but I can imagine other phones might have others. Same principle, just remove it with ADB from the user profile.
Never install an app store in the user profile.
Owner profile password mitigation. You have a few options. Make it way too long to easily type and memorize it, write it down on paper and put it away in basement/attic/friends house, give it to a friend, give part of it to a friend(so they can't unlock the owner profile, only you can, but only if you ask them so huge friction).
Personally, I just have a super long passphrase memorized and that's enough too make the friction large enough. And it's really peaceful on the user profile.
Result. Without the owner password, I am in the user profile and I can't browse the web(HN) or install a distracting app like TikTok or install a new browser. If I want to update an app or manage the device or when the device restarts
Back when I was on iOS I used Apple Configurator which is Apple's MDM solution. You need a Mac it borrow one.
You remove Safari and disable installing apps. This is the guide I followed. Pretty sure your have to factory reset your phone first.
https://redd.it/1731ozp
So, to install new apps you have to connect the iPhone to the Mac and optionally add a password.
MDM is supported by Apple, uninstalling the browser is not recommended by GOS developers, but I haven't had any issues. Soon, GOS will support MDM, so hopefully that will be an even better solution.
I don’t walk but I run 60-120 min 4-5x a week and could not imagine doing so with headphones. Firmly believe we need time away from the constant stimulation of modern life.
I wish I could do the same, but the running(even at low pace like 6mph) is too taxing without something fun to listen to
I always find treadmill running to be as much of a mental workout staying focused as a physical one
Too taxing in what sense? Too boring? Too hard? If it’s the later, slow down to a brisk walk to build some stamina.
If it’s the former, start watching your surroundings. There’s a ton of things that are fun to watch.
Sounds like they’re using a treadmill, and yes this is about the most boring way possible to exercise
Mostly boring, but in upper zone 2 and sometimes zone 3 does not help. Yeah, I find it helpful to run outdoor. It’s particularly enjoyable to run in a trip because the routes will be unfamiliar
For several years I walked to and from the office, about 1.5 miles each way. Typically in the morning I would listen to a podcast or audiobook, and on the way home I would often continue thinking about whatever I had been trying to figure out at work. I found it useful.
Yeah I started walking a lot since 2021 (before I walked but just a few km to/from work, and sometimes I'd take a bus), since 2020 I worked remotely and I realized how much I need these walks, started walking around 7km daily on average, with 20-30km walks on weekends.
It fixed my back pains. It made me lose weight. It gave me time to reflect on my long-avoided problems. Productivity is like the least important benefit.
Exactly this
Exactly the opposite for me, I tried to add 10 minutes of walking to my workday (midday) and I only lasted a month. I found it so distracting; I lose so much productivity, would be unable to concentrate for at least an hour afterwards, and sometimes for practically the rest of the workday.
I absolutely do think exercise can help with work, in general, just not immediately after for me. A walk after work is much better, to prepare for the next day.
Try pomodoro instead. It's 25/5 work/break. I started out with 60/15, then 45/15, then 25/5 and found out they were right. These breaks, for me, are just walking elsewhere to do a household task and then coming back. For most, it's likely all you need.
Meanwhile, another commenter who walks around Manhattan says that "distraction is the catalyst", and in the article they have participants walking on a treadmill in front of a blank wall, and others walking "outdoors along a predetermined path" (but where?) with the same results. Furthermore, what they measure and call creativity is thinking of uses for a button or thinking of the word "cheese".
Are you carrying a lot of stress when you were walking 10 min mid-day? I think the wandering, creative mind is the goal and walking often facilitates that, but if some stronger force is keeping you away then it may not work.
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