Bad Mood? Take A Hike!

If You ever played sports you no doubt have heard a coach say to someone experiencing a painful moment to just "walk it off".  That helps how?  I guess the intent is to show that moderate pain is mainly mental and it need not impede your continued play.  But what if the pain IS mental and not physical?  Looks like the coach's advice still applies!

Iowa State University scientists say that if you're in a bad mood "just walk it off".

Here was the experiment.  Students either went on a walking tour of campus, or sat and look at photographs of the campus.  Those who walked reported being in a better mood following the experiment compared to the non-walking group.

A followup experiment saw researchers up the ante by telling the campus walkers they had to write an essay afterwards and those students still reported better moods.

I'm not sure I agree with Cyclone Scientists on their assumption but they concluded walking improves mood because it taps into primal feelings of when our ancestors associated physical movement with hunting and gathering, which meant finding food.  (Daily Mail)