Robert E. Thayer
Don't touch that candy bar! A short walk gives you a longer energy boost and improves your mood.
Recently I bumped into one of my students at a candy machine on our
college campus. He told me he was about to attend a long and boring lecture and needed his favorite sweet to stay alert . I suggested that
he join me for a brisk walk instead. When we returned, he thanked me for the tip. As he left for the lecture hall, he said he felt on top of
the world. Another of my students suffered badly from test anxiety. She knew of my work on the psychology of mood and asked me for help because she had an important exam coming up. I suggested she take a 10-minute walk, moderately fast-paced but not exhausting, before the test. She took the advice and later reported that she'd aced the exam.
I have been doing research for many years on the mood changes that occur with short, rapid walks. My latest findings clearly indicate that brisk walks increase people's feelings of energy, sometimes for several hours. They are a more effective (and less fattening) pick-me-up than a candy bar, and can reduce tension and make personal problems appear
less serious. These changes can be subtle, but repeated over time they become very apparent. Short walks may even make it easier to quit smoking.
I learned of these effects from several experiments with young and middle-aged people who were in fairly good shape. In an early experiment, I had a group of college students sit for a few minutes and rate their feelings of energy and tension using a short checklist. They then joined me for a moderately fast 10-minute walk around the campus. We returned and sat down, and within five minutes people completed the checklist again.
People felt more energetic and less tired following the walk. I later repeated this procedure with people who walked on an exercise machine in a bare-walled room, to ensure that the mood shift was not due simply to a stroll through the attractive campus surroundings. My
theory that walking energizes us regardless of the scenery held true. Other aspects of this research made it clear that the mood change did not occur because people expected walking would lift their spirits -- it was the walk itself that was responsible. In another study, Dr.
James Rippe also found that walking -- specifically a three-mile walk -- reduces people's anxiety and tension, as well as their blood pressure.
My next step was to discover how long the energized mood lasted.
This time, people walked on a number of occasions during a three-week period. Each time, they rated their energy and tension levels, then
walked briskly for 10 minutes and repeated the ratings several times during the following two hours.
Twenty minutes after the walk, there were significant increases in energy and decreases in fatigue and tension. The effects lasted for at least an hour -- impressive results when you consider that it took only 10 minutes of rapid walking to produce them. Even after two hours, the increased energy from walking was still present to a small degree.
As part of this experiment I compared walking to the effects of eating a sugar snack. I had people eat an average-sized candy bar instead of taking the walk. The immediate mood change from the candy bar was similar to the effect of walking: increased energy. But one
hour after snacking, some negative changes began to show up: People felt more tired and a lot more tense (the tension was gone after two hours).
Other researchers have found that eating sugar can cause fatigue, perhaps because it leads to higher levels of certain chemicals in the brain which act as a sedative. I found that the first reaction to sugar is enhanced energy, and fatigue seems to occur half an hour to an hour
later. This might explain why people who ate candy bars subsequently felt tense: People felt tired but were not able to sleep (it was during the day and they were busy), which made them tense. The people who walked enjoyed an energy boost, avoided the effects of a sugar sedative and didn't experience tension later on.
Short, rapid walks can also help make personal problems appear less serious and increase optimism. During the course of three weeks, one group of people repeatedly assessed the severity of a continuing personal problem, such as an unhappy marriage or a stubborn weight problem. Another group rated their level of optimism. In addition to completing these ratings at fixed times each day, people in both groups took a brisk 10-minute walk.
After the walk, chronic personal problems appeared less serious. The walk also increased general optimism. These improvements were small and were not noticeable every day, but after three weeks the difference became obvious.
Walking produces some other interesting psychological effects, according to studies currently under way by various graduate students and myself. One especially important benefit may be for cigarette smokers who are trying to cut down or quit. Since people often smoke to
increase their energy or reduce tension, we have asked smokers to take five-minute walks before they light up. So far the results are very impressive. Following a walk, our smokers wait twice as long as non-walking smokers do between cigarettes during free-smoking periods. And those who report the greatest energy increase from the walk wait
the longest to smoke the next cigarette.
Walking is, of course, very good physical exercise. Beyond that, it feels good to walk and at moderate walking speeds those good feelings occur right away. Try it after you've been sitting for a while. Keep your posture erect but otherwise relaxed, swing your arms freely and breathe naturally. You don't have to be a dedicated athlete to walk, nor do you need to invest a lot of time and money. Ten minutes should do it and the benefits -- both mental and physical -- should last a lot longer.
散步使你精力充沛
罗伯特· E· 塞耶
别碰那块条形糖！出去散会儿步就能使你精力充沛，而且持续更长的时间，还能使你变得开朗。最近我在我们大学校园内的糖果机旁碰到我的一个学生。他告诉我他要去听一个冗长乏味的讲座，需要他最爱吃的糖果来振作精神。我建议他不要买糖而是跟我一起去轻快地散会步。我们回来时，他感谢我给他这个忠告。当他去讲演厅时，他说他感觉好极了。
我的另一个学生患有严重的考前焦虑症。她听说我在研究情绪心理学，便来向我求助，因为她正面临着一场重要考试。我建议她在考试前散步十分钟，用稍快一点的步速，但不能太累。她听从了我 的 劝告，后来她告诉我她在考试中取得了好成绩。
我对于情绪在短时间的快走后发生的变化已经研究了许多年。我最近的发现清楚地表明，轻快的散步使人们精神抖擞，有时会持续几个小时。比起一块条形糖，快走是更为有效（也更不易使人发胖）的提神方法，它能缓解紧张，使一些私 人问题看上去不那么严重。这些变化可能是细微的，但经过一段时间的重复之后，它们就会变得非常明显。短暂的步行甚至可能使戒烟更加容易。
我从几次对健康的年轻人和中年人的实验中了解到这些效果。在一次早期的实验中，我让一群大学生坐几分钟，用一张简短的调查表，评估他们对精力和紧张的自我感觉。然后他们同我一起在校园里以较快的速度走了十 分钟。我们回来后坐下，在五分钟之内他们再次填完了调查表。
散步之后人们觉得精神更加饱满，疲劳感也减少了。后来，为了确保这种情绪的变化并不仅仅是因为在景色迷人的校园里散步，我在一间墙上不挂任何东西的房间里对在行步器上行走的人们重复了这一过程。我关于不 论 景 色 如 何 ， 步行都 能 够 为 我们增 强 活力的理论是正确的。这项研究的其他方面还表明这种情绪的变化也不是因为人们预计到步行将振作精神--是步行本身在起作用。在另一项研究中，詹姆斯· 利帕博士也发现， 步行--特别是三英里的步行--可以缓解人们的焦虑和紧张，并降低他们的血压。
我的下一步是发现高昂的情绪能持续多久。这一次，人们在三周期间走了几次。每一次，他们先评定他们的精力和紧张程度，然后轻快地走十分钟，并在以后的两小时内重复评定几次。
步行后二十分钟，精力明显增强，疲劳和紧张明显下降。效果持续了至少一个小时--考虑到只需十分钟的快走就能产生这样的效果，的确是令人折服。甚至在两小时之后，因步行而增加的精力仍然少量存在。
作为这项实验的一部分，我比较了步行和吃糖的效果。我让人们吃一块中等大小的条形糖而不是去散步。吃糖后产生的情绪变化同走路的效果相似：精力更加旺盛。但吃零食后的一个小时，一些负面变化开始出现：人们感到更加疲倦，更加紧张（两个小时之后这种紧张才消失）。
别的研究人员发现吃糖会引起疲倦，这也许是因为它会导致大脑中某些充当镇静剂的化学物质的浓度升高。我发现吃糖后的第一反应是精力的增加，疲劳似乎在半小时至一小时后出现。这也许就是人们为什么吃了糖块后会感到紧张的原因：人们感到疲劳但又不能睡觉（这是在大白天，而且他们很忙），这使他们感到紧张。步行后人们的精神为之一振，而且避免了糖的镇静剂作用，之后也没有紧张感。
短时间的快步行走还能帮助缓解私人问题，增加乐观情绪。在那三周期间，一组人反复评估了一个长期个人问题的严重程度，如不幸的婚姻或顽固的体重问题。另一组人则评估他们的乐观程度。除了每天定时完成这些评估之外，两组人都轻快地行走十分钟。
散步之后，长期存在的私人问题似乎不那么严重了。步行也增加了总的乐观情绪。这些改善是微小的，并非每天都觉察得到，但三周之后差异就变得明显了。
根据许多研究生和我自己目前正在进行的研究，行走还会产生其它一些有趣的心理作用。一个特别重要的好处是对试图减少或戒除吸烟的人们 。因为人们常常是为了提神或排忧而吸烟，所以我们要求吸烟者先行走五分钟然后再点香烟。到目前为止，结果很令人瞩目。在自由吸烟期间，行走后的吸烟者在抽另一支烟之前等待的时间是未行走吸烟者的两倍。那些汇报行走后精力增加最多的人在吸另一支烟之前等待的时间最长。
行走当然是非常好的体育锻炼。除此之外，行走会使你感觉良好，而以中速行走时那些良好的感觉就会立刻出现。在你坐了一会后可以去试一试。姿势要挺，但其它方面要放松，自由地挥动你的手臂，自然地呼吸。要行走，你不必是一名刻苦的运动员，也不必投入大量的时间和金钱。十分钟就够了，而它的好处--精神上和身体上的--却会持续得很长，远远不止十分钟。