Welcome to 2025 at LWC.
One of two things may have occurred over the Christmas and New Year break. Either a spell of inactivity has left you vowing never to touch another Quality Street again, or the holiday saw you back, doing things that you may not have done for a while; like walking.
Naturalist, Henry David Thoreau had it about right when he scribbled in his journal: ‘Methinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.’ Similarly, as he wandered lonely as a cloud, the poet, William Wordsworth certainly got his steps in. Recent estimates suggest that in his lifetime, he notched up around 180,000 miles worth. Wowsers. That’s the equivalent of six and a half miles per day from the age of five.
Inevitably, the Greeks also figured out that walking worked wonders. They believed there was a deep, intuitive connection between walking, writing, and thinking. Honestly, the list of supporting voices is ludicrously long: Kant, Nietzsche, Dickens, Hemingway, Aristotle, Beethoven, Descartes, Freud and Einstein all walked daily, without (and whisper it quietly), a mobile phone in sight. The space, pace and tranquillity enabled their creativity to flourish. As someone close to me once said, “Everybody can’t be wrong.”
Researchers at Stanford University believe that a person’s creative output increases by up to 60 per cent when walking. Apparently, it helps creative brainstorming. Having said this, they point out that it doesn’t work quite so well when you’re trying to come up with singular correct answers to questions. In other words, if you need inspiration for that algebraic equation, leave the walking boots in the cupboard under the stairs.
When we walk, positive changes to our body chemistry also occur. As well as getting our heart pumping faster, regular walking creates new connections between our brain cells and increases the hippocampus volume (the memory part of the brain). The way our bodies move is also worthy of note. Walking at our own pace creates an unadulterated feedback loop between the rhythm of our bodies and our mental state. We can’t experience this as easily when doing other activities such as jogging, cycling and even Speedgolf. When we stroll, the pace of our feet naturally flows with our mood and the cadence of our inner speech. That, folks, is pretty cool. Without needing to focus on what we are doing, our attention is free to wander and we enter a creative, innovative state.
But here’s the thing. Globally, we’re not a walking species these days. The science would say that getting in anything between five and ten thousand steps per day is decent. Based upon mobile phone data, the world’s most successful striders per day are:
- Hong Kong (6800
- China (6200)
- UK (5400)
- Germany (5200)
- France (5100)
The US sits mid-table at 4774 and the sofa surfers are: Malaysia (3963), Saudi Arabia (3807) and Indonesia (3503). Frankly, all of this is pretty embarrassing. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors clocked up between 15,000 and 18,000 steps per day. Although they did get eaten by malevolent, furry things with big teeth.
Despite all of this, we’re pretty well-off at LWC.
Your children nearly all gust over the ten thousand steps per day mark. They do this, surrounded by acres of green space, fresh air and big skies. The staff teaching them are in a profession that ranks in the UK top 5 for steps taken per day too. No wonder creativity is flourishing, alongside a passion for the outdoors.
As we stroll into 2025 and some of the coldest months (it’s February according to Met Office’s weather station at Odiham), a reminder that this is no excuse not to get out there and embrace the shuffle, whatever the pace. As we know, there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.
For my part, I’m grabbing an OS map and setting my sights on the South West Coast Path in 2025. There’s nothing quite like the prospect of a long, windswept walk in the rain to remind you of what it means to feel alive. If only I could remember which golf club changing rooms I left my waterproofs in…
Have a wonderful start to term. We have a smorgasbord of adventure planned for you and your children. There is so much to look forward to this year and it will certainly be more exciting than those New Year’s resolutions that either have, or are about to go by the wayside… 90% are broken within 14 days if you’re interested.
Yours,
Adam
