The Constitutional Walk

The Edwardian gentleman commonly walked every day and in indifferent weather, partly for health and partly because many ordinary journeys had not yet been transferred to a motor car.

The health manuals of that period praised brisk walking at length, noting that even ten minutes of steady movement in rain would make the blood circulate vigorously and restore the spirits to a condition of cheerful alertness. Fresh air was considered the third essential of health, after rest and nourishment, and it was prescribed with the same seriousness that your physicians now reserve for pharmaceutical interventions costing a great deal more and accomplishing, in many cases, a great deal less.

The constitutional belonged to a rhythm of life: a walk taken to think, to digest, to settle the nerves after an unpleasant meeting or before an important one, to observe the neighbourhood, to greet an acquaintance, and to move through the world as a body in motion. The distinction matters, for it frees the walk from the tyranny of optimisation and restores it to its proper place as a daily act of maintenance, kin to washing or sleeping.

The habit has since been displaced by a great deal of sitting: for work, meals, travel, and entertainment. Some men then drive to a gymnasium in order to walk upon a machine, although the street beyond the door provides changing ground, weather, and something to look at without charging a subscription.

Walk outdoors each day with some attention to the neighbourhood and away from a screen. Twenty minutes is sufficient to establish the habit, and thirty gives more room for thought. Smoke, poor air, dangerous heat or cold, ice, and storms are reasons to alter the hour, route, or setting rather than proofs of character.

A walk is a sound foundation, though a complete week also includes enough brisk movement to raise the breathing rate, together with strength work on two days. Balance work becomes increasingly useful with age. Illness, disability, and injury may require a different form of movement; the useful exercise is the one which can be performed safely and repeated.

Further guidance

• Physical activity, World Health Organization