Walking to work with Dr. Walsworth
Dr. Geoff Emry, left, and Dr. Mark Walsworth after completing their walk to work.
On a recent gorgeous fall morning I stepped out of my house wearing my brand new walking shoes and headed for work a bit earlier than usual. It was 50 degrees with clear blue skies as I hiked briskly to Dr. Walsworth's house so that we could walk to work together.
Dr. Mark Walsworth is also a family physician and one of my colleagues at Ironwood Family Practice who walks regularly, including to and from work. And even though we live about the same distance from our office, I'm embarrassed to say this was the first time I have walked to work. So, in keeping with my mantra that exercise is better with a buddy, I decided to join him.
For years I've admired how Dr. Walsworth walks to work in all sorts of weather. He told me, “I’ve always liked walking. Ever since we got here during residency I walked every single place I could. Even in the middle of winter I just put on my boots … and just make it work.” I’m not sure if this has to do with growing up in Alaska or perhaps the fact that he went to medical school in one of the world’s “blue zones,” Loma Linda, Calif.
The term “blue zones” was first coined by Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Explorer, to describe the five places around the planet where there’s an unusually high concentration of people living healthily to the age of 100 and beyond. He and other scientists studied the characteristics these blue zones have in common and found they share nine specific lifestyle habits, one of which is to “move naturally." This means that the world’s longest-living people live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without thinking about it, such as walking to and from work. (If you want to learn more about blue zones check out the Netflix series called "Live To 100: Secrets Of The Blue Zones," which I highly recommend.)
Dr. Walsworth is a big fan of getting outside and moving naturally: “I hate working out in gyms. Working out for the sake of working out feels like death to me. For me, if I can find people to play sports with, I'm more likely to do it. At Loma Linda I had a soccer team I would play for, (and) I run around chasing my kid a lot. When I go kayaking, for me, that is just joy. It's never like a workout, it's just freedom.”
As we walked, Dr. Walsworth and I discussed the barriers for people walking to work, and we both agreed the biggest ones are logistics and weather. In terms of logistics, it seems easier to drive to work everyday than planning ahead what to pack for lunch or what to carry.
For myself, I found that emptying my satchel bag (AKA my man purse) of all the useless stuff that I usually schlep around was key. And as for dealing with inclement weather, here’s Dr. Mark’s pro tip: “I try to either be unbothered or enjoy the bad weather. I find silliness in being absolutely soaked when I show up to work and find the humor in it at least.”
Despite logistical barriers and weather issues, Dr. Walsworth finds many benefits in walking to work: “For me, I'm way more efficient if I am active everyday. So it's not saving me time but it is saving me a lot of mental effort. You work the body a little bit and the mind has time to chill out and only be focused on breathing a little bit harder.”
Arriving at work after our 20-minute jaunt, I definitely felt more invigorated than usual and eager to see my full schedule of patients. But later in the day when I asked Dr. Walsworth in passing how we were going to get home after work that evening, he raised one eyebrow and said “Geoff, that's the whole point of walking to work. You walk home as well!”
The Good: The cost — it's totally free! In fact, it costs less than nothing because of not having to put gasoline or electricity into your vehicle.
The Bad: Uncertain weather and logistics. However, packing your lunch ahead of time helps with logistics and is itself another healthy habit.
The Nitty Gritty: There's clear evidence that we all need to be walking more to live longer, healthier lives.
Dr. Emry is a family physician and partner at Ironwood Family Practice in Coeur d’Alene. Exercise Explorer MD will appear every other week in The Press. Dr. Emry can be contacted via email exercisexplorermd@gmail.com. ©2023 This work is licensed under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license.