We all age at one day per day. But how we get older depends on how we approach the process – and with walking 1000 miles you take the bold, positive way, not the self-fulfilling timid one, says Dr Peter Davies.
We all have basic needs for our health – good food, enough sleep, enough exercise. We also need something to do, something to be and something to become – a sense of personal coherence, and a narrative about how and why we matter to ourselves, to others, and the wider world. We need to know connection and belonging. And if all that sounds like a prescription for #walk1000miles, well, it is.
And it’s important. The way to be and stay healthy over time is to build your physical body, because at a physiological level we need more muscle, both for our body and for our psychology. Too little is actually driving much of the illness we see in the NHS, and most of the negative symptoms we associate with ageing. Psychologically, we need connection, purpose and perspective. What seems like a simple routine of daily walking actually creates a powerful cocktail of benefits that can turn traditional ideas of ageing on their head. And all this from just using your muscles to do what they and you want them to do!
Walking’s anti-ageing prescription
Walking creates strength, which enables you to lift, do, get tired naturally, sleep properly, and avoid weakness, frailty, falls and sleep disturbance.
Walking creates joint strength, which allows you to bear weight well across joints, move freely with less or no pain, and stay stable and mobile. It helps you avoid joint pain, minor ligament pulls, tennis elbow, plantar fasciitis and osteoarthritis.
Walking creates movement, which enables you to explore the inner and outer worlds around us, go outside and interact joyfully, create vitamin D and synchronise your circadian rhythms. That helps you avoid seasonal affective disorder, loneliness, boredom, bone weakness and vitamin D deficiency.
Walking boosts insulin sensitivity, allowing you to metabolise well, stay younger, have your arteries remain open and your internals flourish, while helping you avoid obesity, diabetes, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, vascular dementia, erectile dysfunction and peripheral vascular disease.
Walking creates brain connections, promoting stable mood, happiness and thinking better; greater concentration, better co-ordination, more confidence, personal coherence and agency, stronger memory and a bigger hippocampus. That helps you avoid depression, feel less frazzled, less frenetic and less frustrated; be less forgetful and experience less dementia.
Walking triggers myokine release, counteracting damaging cytokines and meaning you suffer less low grade chronic inflammation, wear and tear on bones and joints, stiffness, DNA changes and cancer
Bold, not old: your stories
69 going on 16!
‘When I was in my 50s, I climbed my first solo 10,000' mountain in Austria. My daughter commented, "Oh, Mom, don't you think you are a bit old for that now?".... my reply to her (and she has now caught up with me) .."YOU HAVE TO GROW OLD BUT YOU NEVER HAVE TO GROW UP!" That has been my mantra ever since! Now I’m 69 going on 16!’ – Sue Gorton, 69
‘Never regretted my decision’
I was 57 when I decided there is more to life than work, bills and mortgage. So I sold everything to go travelling – managed three years before Covid, and I travelled all over Europe, the Balkans and did nine months volunteering in Africa, my dream come true. All my friends said I was either really brave or really stupid but to me it was totally liberating to be free and have the whole world at my feet. I’ve never regretted my decision. Life is for living here and now not just waiting until you retire!’ – Sharon Kimber, 66
‘I push myself more’
‘I started #walk1000miles five years ago at 47 and counted every step just to say I did it. Since then I now manage 1000 miles boots on, I’ve walked all of the National 3 Peaks, backpacked The Dales Way, Great Glen Way and next the West Highland Way. I’ve done 109 Wainwrights. I started doing 25k Ultra Challenges, then thought I’d have a go at a 50k – in the Peak District last week I walked 34 miles in 11.5 hours. I’m going to attempt a 100k continuous in September! As I’ve got older I push myself more and love planning the next adventure. I think as you get older you realise you don’t live forever and time goes faster. All inspired by this fantastic community!’ – Sonia Peirson, 52
‘It’s de-aged me’
‘In a couple of years I’ll be hitting 50 – when I started the #walk1000miles I was 40, now I’m far happier, less anxious, fitter and you could say it’s de-aged me. Meeting fellow badgers and making friends for life is definitely a plus, and for my 50th I’ve decided to walk the Hadrian’s Wall Path. But before then lies plenty of other walking adventures! Bring it on!’ – Richard Inns, 48
‘Walking has renewed my enthusiasm for life’
At 58 I’m too old for people to tell me what I should or shouldn’t do, and far too young to stop doing anything that I want to do. Walking has renewed my enthusiasm for life and brought me back into contact with friends who are further afield as I stay with them on route to places to break the journey. Great excuse for a catch up! Last year I climbed Yr Wyddfa, completed my first 1000 miles whilst doing the Edale Skyline, and walked the Gritstone trail solo.Two days ago I climbed Ben Nevis, and there was a lady was 70 in our group. If I’m still doing this in 12 years time I’d be very happy!’ – Catherine Muirhead, 58
‘Memories take you back, dreams forward’
At 50 I passed a BA degree, at 51 bought my first walking boots and taught myself to use map and compass. At 52 I went on my very first walking holiday in Israel. At 61 I worked out a walk across England, from the Thames Barrier to the Malvern Hills and did it on my own. At 70 I did the Cotswold Way and the Gloucestershire Way. Then at 80 climbed almost to the top of Ben Nevis in the pouring rain. At 82 I walked in the mountains in South Africa and did a zip wire across from one mountain to another. Then I compiled a walking book of ten circular walks in my area. I was half way through my 83rd year both my hips gave up and what with Covod I was 86 birthday before both hips had been done, and 87 when a nasty fall set me back.
Now at 88 I’m improving my walking with the use of a walker and set a task to get 500 miles in so I can earn my medal which I bought in anticipation! Walking keeps me active, outdoors and enjoying the beautiful countryside this country has in abundance. Memories take you backwards and dreams take you forward!’ – Pamela Wright-Brogan, 88
‘Getting older has been a revelation’
I’m 50 next year and for me getting older has been a revelation. I got diagnosed ADHD at 47, so there was embracing who I actually am. I’m fitter and stronger than I was five years ago. I know I don’t want to be immobile so that’s important to me. I had a career change and am now doing an apprenticeship in coaching. I feel happier in my life than I did when I was younger, and I’m definitely not going gracefully or quietly into anything. I’m screaming, I’m shouting, I’m me! I know from hard experience that life is tough, you never know when your time is up, so enjoy your life and make the best of it. – Mai-ana Hutchinson, 49
‘Embrace the changes and go for gold’
When I was in my early 50s I lost my husband to MND. I realised then that every day is a precious gift not to be squandered. I took up cycling and swimming again, and at the age of 56 took up rock climbing with my second husband Mike. I am now 63 and healthier and fitter than I have been since my 20s. So getting older is to be celebrated. Embrace the changes and go for gold! – Fiona Sherry, 63
‘There are such rewards in ageing!’
On January 1, 2020, as I contemplated my increasingly declining health and fitness, I decided to resume a walking habit I’d abandoned a decade earlier, and quit drinking alcohol. As my walking increased, so did my wellbeing and confidence – I lost over 50 pounds and felt so healthy and strong I decided to walk the Coast to Coast. On the day before my 65th birthday, I completed it, proud of my perseverance and stamina. Next I did the Tour du Mont Blanc. Next year, I hope to complete the West Highland Way and hike Ben Nevis. To be sure, there are challenges in aging. But there are such rewards! I credit walking with increasing my resilience, curiosity and my anticipation for what each day holds. Age does bring wisdom, but it also brings joy, hope and so much peace! – Karen South Jones, 67
‘I’m more intrepid than ever’
‘I appreciate the wonders of nature more every year, not least because I’ve been given a new lease of life after a scary cancer diagnosis. I was given a 20% chance of surviving the year. And here I am, eight years later walking 1000 miles a year for the second time, having spent my first night in a bothy, hiked remote parts of Scotland and backpacked solo. I’m more adventurous and intrepid than ever. 63 and in my prime.’ – Sue Waton, 63
‘Absolutely loving life’
I grew up dreading getting old BUT how wrong I was. I’m 61, living in the Yorkshire Dales and absolutely loving my life. A diagnosis of ovarian cancer made me determined to get old. Surgery and treatment caused weight gain as did needing a new hip as a result of my cancer treatments. But I started tentatively walking and became hooked. I lost six and a half stone and now walk 15 miles most days, and feel better, healthier, happier, stronger, more confident , and more adventurous than I ever have!’ – Janet Pollock, 61
‘Still got the bug!’
As my 50s approached, life went sideways and my marriage failed, but in my 60s I discovered #walk1000miles, rediscovered walking and did the West Highland Way, Great Glen Way and Speyside Way. Then a medical drama interrupted, and I had a Pacemaker fitted. Full of trepidation I explained to the consultant I wanted to walk Hadrians Wall, to which I got the reply “Bloody Good Idea”. 68 and I still have the bug!’ – Terry Dukes, 68
‘Slowing down? No way’
I thought getting old was about slowing down. That is so not true. I am more active. Want to achieve more. Have more goals. Want to get all I can out of life. At 65 I still work full time, live alone and walk everywhere. I go out most weekends with a walking group. It adds zest to my life – a chance to think, be free, see new places, watch nature, be amongst other people, stay strong, live life to the full.’ – Diane Hambleton, 65
