I’d like to introduce the cheapest wellness practice you can do this winter: a daily walk. This simple action can decrease stress, restore calm, improve mood, and lift your energy.
On the North Coast, winters envelop us in rain, dampness, and long dark nights. The long nights often mean reaching for comforting foods instead of moving our bodies. Rich, sweet, and heavy foods combined with the damp environment can contribute to what Traditional Chinese Medicine calls internal dampness.
This may show up as feeling heavy, foggy, low-energy, or sluggish. It can also appear in less glamorous ways: excess congestion, mucus in the stool, poor digestion, or increased vaginal discharge. For some, it settles into the joints as stiffness or arthritic pain.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, walking stirs qi and circulates body fluids, helping break up stagnation and dampness that can make you feel heavy this time of year.
Walking also helps decrease stress. Gentle movement gives the nervous system a chance to discharge activation and restore calm — one of the most accessible pathways back to the parasympathetic “rest and digest” state. Studies show that walking outdoors increases parasympathetic activity and lowers stress markers.
Walking can also improve mood. Research involving over 400,000 people found that spending more time outdoors in daylight is linked to fewer depressive symptoms, better sleep, easier mornings, and less fatigue. Daylight helps regulate circadian rhythms — the body’s internal clock — supporting steady energy during the day and restful sleep at night.
Interestingly, more intense exercise like running can actually feel stressful to the nervous system, especially when you’re already feeling anxious or activated. Running triggers the fight-or-flight response, increasing heart rate, adrenaline, and stress hormones. While this can feel energizing at first, it doesn’t always allow your nervous system to fully settle. Walking, in contrast, moves the body gently while helping you truly relax and restore balance. So full permission this winter — when we’re meant to be hibernating and storing our qi — to trade in a run for a walk.
Science confirms what embodied wisdom has long known:
movement + daylight = systemic regulation
So next time you feel stuck, foggy, or low energy, remember: a simple walk in daytime light is one of the most grounding, healing acts you can offer your body and mind.
References
Blume, C., Garbazza, C., & Spitschan, M. (2019). Effects of light on human circadian rhythms, sleep and mood. Somnologie, 23(3), 147–156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11818-019-00215-x
Burns, A. C., Saxena, R., Vetter, C., et al. (2021). Time spent in outdoor light is associated with mood, sleep, and circadian rhythm-related outcomes. Journal of Affective Disorders, 295, 319–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.07.033
Song, C., Ikei, H., Kobayashi, M., et al. (2015). Effect of forest walking on autonomic nervous system activity in middle-aged hypertensive individuals: A pilot study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(12), 15643–15659. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph121215987
Wright, K. P., Jr., McHill, A. W., Birks, B. R., et al. (2013). Entrainment of the human circadian clock to the natural light-dark cycle. Current Biology, 23(16), 1554–1558. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.06.039
Amanda Shibley
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