Tiktok’s latest trend, silent walking, can help your mental, physical and emotional health, as reported by multiple online news sources.
Silent walking is simply taking about 30 minutes to stroll outside without any distractions.
Created by Tiktok influencer Mady Maio, the trend started after her nutritionist recommended she replace her intense cardio routine with 30-minute outdoor strolls, TODAY reported, adding that Maio took the recommendation further when her boyfriend suggested she walk without distractions like her phone or listening to music.
“After 30 minutes of silent walking, I suddenly had the clarity that I had always been looking for,” Maio said, adding that “every time I finish a silent walk I have a new idea for my business, I’ve untangled a weird situation in my head that I’ve been ruminating over and I feel like a lot of my current question marks get answered,” per The New York Post.
What are the health benefits of silent walking?
A study published by The National Library of Medicine found that taking at least 90 minutes to walk in nature can “lower levels of rumination and showed reduced neural activity in an area of the brain linked to risk for mental illness compared with those who walked through an urban environment,” Forbes said.
For those living in urban areas that have higher noise pollution, Marianna Cuomo Maier, a board-certified wellness coach in Manhattan, told The Post that “carving out that space to be in the stillness of silence is how we become our most healthy, whole and productive selves.”
Triple board-certified psychiatrist Dr. Raafat W. Girgis told Fox News that he found the trend a “unique meditation,” adding that it can give “numerous benefits in as little as 10 minutes.”
“Participants will learn how to reduce stress in areas of concern — from work and family to finance pressures and possibly even world affairs,” Girgis told Fox News.
Psychologist Amanda Darnley said, “By removing distractions, (silent walking) allows the participant to become more aware of their inner and outer environments,” per TODAY.
“The body, mind and soul are connected,” Girgis told Fox News, and “while in nature, removing the stressors and replacing them with quiet thought with no interference … your mood improves naturally.”
Juanita Guerra, a clinical psychologist in New Rochelle, New York, told TODAY, “Practicing silent walking can prove to be challenging, given that we live in an overstimulating world.”
For your silent walk, Guerra suggested walking in a nearby area, not being thirsty or hungry beforehand, being present in the moment and focusing on your breath, thoughts and the environment around you to get the most out of your experience, per TODAY.