Walking for Wellness: Steps to Elevate Health, Increase Energy, and Heighten Awareness

I recently returned from a holiday where I walked… a lot. Not the occasional stroll, but long, purposeful hours of moving through a city on my own two feet. In St. Petersburg, I averaged around 16,000 steps a day, and one day even hit 30,000.

That was extreme and not something most of us can realistically sustain in daily life, certainly not me in Singapore, yet the effect was undeniable. My body felt energised, my head was clear, and my mood was lighter.

It also made me realise something uncomfortable: in Singapore, my walking is only a fraction of what it was on holiday. I live in a city optimised for speed. The MRT, buses, and Grab make crossings effortless. You can glide through air-conditioned malls, covered linkways, and underground tunnels with hardly a moment spent on open streets. Even when you “walk,” much of it happens indoors. It is convenient, and in a tropical climate, convenience is persuasive. Then there is the weather itself, with heat and humidity pressing on the skin and nudging you toward chilled corridors. The body votes for shade, and the day slips by in a sequence of doors and escalators.

Work compounds this. My working hours, like those of many others, are spent inside at a desk, buried in documents, layered with online calls and back-to-back meetings. Movement, specifically walking, becomes the exception rather than the rhythm. I know the health benefits of walking; most of us do.

However, the gap between knowing and doing widens when the city removes the need and the calendar removes space.

So this article is both a note to myself and an invitation to anyone who feels the same. Walking might be the simplest conscious choice we can make, and I am promising myself to make more of it.

The Transformative Power of Walking Outdoors

Cities, and Singapore is one of them, often make it easy to move through tunnels, escalators, and air-conditioned malls without ever stepping outside. Yet it is outdoors, on open streets and in parks, where walking truly changes how you feel.

On my recent holiday, I spent hours walking outside, and instead of feeling tired, I felt more alive. My body was energised and my mind was more present. Colours, textures, and scents stood out in sharp detail, awakening a sense of presence that rarely happens indoors.

That is one of the real benefits of walking: when you walk outdoors, you do not just pass through a city, you notice it and begin to inhabit it.

Why Walking Works, and Why We Still Don’t Do It Enough

From a health standpoint, walking delivers one of the best returns on the small commitment. The World Health Organization classifies brisk walking as moderate-intensity exercise and recommends 150–300 minutes per week, which is about 30 to 60 minutes a day, five days a week. Large-scale studies show that even 7,000–8,000 steps a day can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. That is less than the “magic” 10,000 we have been told for years, yet still enough to transform long-term health.

The benefits of walking go beyond the heart and muscles. Research from Stanford University found that people generate more creative ideas while walking, with mental clarity often lasting long after the walk ends. Mood shifts too: time on foot, especially outdoors, is linked to reduced stress and anxiety, while spending just two hours a week in nature significantly improves self-reported wellbeing.

So if science is clear, why do we not walk more?…Because knowing and doing are different things.
We tell ourselves we need an uninterrupted hour, so when the day feels busy, we skip it. We default to transport because it is quicker. Spare minutes get filled with screens. And often, we simply forget that the street outside is even an option.

What I Learned From Walking on Holiday and My Promise Now

Those days in St. Petersburg were a reminder that walking is not about “finding time,” it is about giving it. It was the rhythm of moving through the city that changed my energy, not exactly the number on my step counter.

Walking is the most human form of movement, the one we are designed for. It sharpens the mind, softens stress, and gives your senses back the details that speed strips away. It costs nothing, and the more you do it, the more you want to do it.

My promise to myself is simple: to treat walking not as a “task” but as a quiet daily luxury.

For Anyone Else in the Same Place

If you live in a fast city, you will know the struggle. There is always somewhere to be, and the fastest way there rarely involves your legs. Yet you also know how different you feel when you do make time for it, whether that is a walk through a park, a trip to the shops without a car, or simply choosing the long way home.

Walking indoors is always better than not walking at all, and walking outdoors, whenever possible, offers the fullest benefit, restoring energy and presence in ways the indoors cannot. Let us make walking part of everyday life and choose it more often.

I am keeping this promise in writing because it is easy to slip back into the escalator rhythm. But every time I think of those holiday days filled with walking: the lightness, the energy, the sheer joy of moving without rushing, I remember why it matters. And maybe, if you have been missing it too, you will remember as well.

by Katerina, Founder of Katruss