I walk when agitated. For me that is a mental health thing
Besides parks and trails, have you ever seen recreational walkers who weren’t “off?”
Sitting while passively watching TV or actively reading, creates a lower neural oscillation rate than while moving around.
I think the majority of people get hooked on this frequency. I know of some yoga enthusiasts who are hooked on the lower frequency during meditation. And depressed people who use sleep as a drug; draw your own conclusion.
I used to walk miles and miles, enjoying looking at different houses and buildings. Yes, I knew I was seen as a weirdo by drivers. People i knew would say “hey, i see you walking” with only slightly difference in their tone than “hey, I saw you painting rings around your nipples with mud.” I didn’t need that, and anyway I was getting back into running.
After a few weeks I realized that instead of huffing & puffing, I could forget that I was running, and my neural oscillation rate had returned to what it had been while walking. I could still mull over issues, daydream, imagine Nobel Prize-winning SDMB posts like before.
And you’re worried about their mental health?:dubious:
I’m wondering if looking askance at walkers is a USA phenomenon? Or maybe associated with areas having heavy car usage?
When I was in England once long ago, we stayed in some smallish towns where people thought nothing of walking a couple of miles to visit a friend. That would never happen in the car-centric place I live. There are some suburban neighborhoods here where you never see ANYONE walking unless they’re in fitness clothes or leading a dog.
I stayed in Mexico one time and at a certain time of the evening, everyone came out to walk, teens, elderly, whole families. Not sure if that still goes on. They’re probably inside on Facebook today. I know there are other countries where seeing regular walkers would not trigger questions about mental health. At least I think that’s the case. What say those outside the US?
Kayaker, I am a recently out of the closet chronic people and animal watcher since my earliest memories. Normal people never grab my attention but anything I perceive as odd or unusual seems to grab my attention. On the rare occassion when I actually have some background on what catches my attention I can often surmise a theory as to why. I have several little case studies I found interesting that I plan on posting.
As for the walkers, these people were not going to work, they never had jobs, all they did was walk from early morning till dark. They had a very specific style and posture that never changed over decades. I feel like all of them were probably schitzophrenic.
How do you know, “all they did was walk from early morning till dark.”? Did you follow each and every one of them every single day all day long?
As a long distance cyclist and walker I can say that those activities are good for my mental health. Had I been born more recently I’d certainly have been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as a child. I’ve slowed down a little in the last 50+ years but not much. I’d doing a 100 mile ride tomorrow.
I’ve talked to people like mentioned above. Most do seem to have a mental illness and the activity helps them cope. I have a cycling friend that is bi-polar (or whatever the PC term is now days) and cycling is a major part of his therapy.
In my business I spent a lot of time on local roads around the city, over decades of seeing these people I would even become aware of the routes they would normally take. I am absolutely positive they did not have jobs. The later in the day you see them the further along the route they would be, very obvious.
Is this thread for real? Maybe they’re walking to where they have to go? Or they like taking walks?
Uhh, yes?
All this and you’re only mental health concerns are for those you obsessively observe? Case studies?
I never said I was overly concerned, it just caught me attention and I sometimes wondered about them. The last few years most of them have disappeared. Lots of obsessive behaviors are not so obvious so are more prone to not even being noticed.
you seem pretty concerned to me. You seem to have the complete travel route and schedule of people who are just walking, so much so you’re certain of where they’re going and not going, have certainty that they don’t work because you’ve mapped their paths. Case studies? Close your drapes and get a life. Maybe you should take a walk.
Thats just a bad observation on your part, I have a pretty decent active life and I am not so self obsessed as to be oblivious to those around me. And I do take daily walks.
Somebody is probably watching you…
Danny isn’t here, Mrs. Torrance.
It is reassuring to know that we have posters here of such high caliper they can tell other posters that thier interests are not valid for some reason. I am glad I finaly reached a point in life where I don’t really give a shit what others think.
Yes, several of the small towns I’ve lived in had walkers. I don’t know if they walked all day or not, but in a small town you are apt to notice the same person out walking at all hours of the day. One walker, a young woman, was hit by a truck and came to the hospital where I worked for treatment. She was clearly developmentally disabled. We found out as we were treating her hip fracture that she was also 6 months pregnant. She did not understand that she was pregnant nor how she got that way. I saw her again when she came in to deliver a few months later. She told me the doctors had removed a giant worm from her belly.
Another small town in the west had the Happy Walker. He was a town fixture. He paced all over town at a good clip, often up and down the main drag, and he had a very distinctive style of walking, arms swinging vigorously, with both index fingers pointed – it looked like he was pointing down the road where he was headed. He also smiled and waved at passing motorists. He seemed happy all the time.
LOL, good one.
Perhaps you don’t have enough mental bandwidth to multitask, but I’m pretty sure the OP does.
I do sometimes wonder what it’s like to be someone who doesn’t think about whatever they see. Would seem boring to me.
Do you know if they use public transit?
When I have visited larger cities with decent public transit, I would spend the entire day riding the busses and trains, and walking. It killed time and let me explore the city. If I were unemployed and/or unable to work I would probably do a lot of that during the day to get out of the house and have something to do. As a result I’m sure I would be seen walking all over town. However I wouldn’t be walking everywhere, I would be taking busses and trains to places, then walking.
Have you seen any of these people at a bus station, or any public transit hub?
I don’t know if your body ever adjusts to it, but walking 12+ miles a day in high heels is going to be hard as hell on your feet. I don’t know if a woman would be able to do that. People have trouble walking that much in a day in hiking boots or walking shoes.