Tag: Walking

My Notes from TEDxBasel 2019

I enjoyed the recent TEDxBasel 2019. Here are my notes:

Choose your priorities
Make health and happiness your main priority. Who would enjoy success or wealth without being healthy or happy?

Tips from a Michelin-starred chef
Use a cooking apron. It will transform your mindset and you’ll feel like a chef. Try cooking with tea. Use lots of nuts. Always use salt, even for sweet dishes.

The benefits of walking
Martin Vosseler is a physician and walked more than 40’000 km in his life, and he continues to walk 3000 km per year. Some of the benefits he experienced: it keeps you healthy; you connect with Earth and the Universe; you meet a lot of people; you experience a lot of love and generosity; it’s a very sustainable and earth-compatible mode of travel. It reminds me of my Just Walk habit I started a few years ago.


Your chair is your enemy

Prolonged sitting increases the risk of multiple health conditions. Sitting is so normal for us that we seldom question it. I know I don’t.

I believe it’s useful to increase awareness and help battle our cultural sitting obsession. Here are some ideas:

Read while standing
I’ve recently started to read in a standing position. And I quite like it. I just put the book (or iPad) on a cleared shelf and read. Why haven’t I thought of this sooner?

Move every hour
Research has shown that moving 2–3 minutes at regular intervals lessens the harmful effects of inactivity. My Oura Ring sends me a push notification each hour if I don’t move. I receive many of those notifications! (Which has increased my awareness of this problem.)

Get a standing or treadmill desk
You can get a standing or even a treadmill desk. I’ve never used one, but I’d love to try it.

Take a walk with an audiobook
This is one of my favorite activities. You are outside, you move, and you learn.

Do a 7 minute workout in the morning
Most of us don’t move enough. There is no excuse for not doing a 4 min Tabata or 7 minute workout in the morning. You can do it anywhere, even in your underwear…

Earn your play time
Love to play an occasional game or surf social media? Then earn it! Do a set of squats, pushups or burpees before you are allowed to indulge. Recently, I got addicted to a new game, and after each 5-10 min round I did a set. “Getting fit by gaming”, it’s a whole new mindset. It felt pretty awesome.

Have other ideas? Let me know on Twitter.


Just Walk

Inspired by this podcast episode (which I highly recommend) I ditched my scooter and started walking to work:

  • I listen to audiobooks and podcasts, and treat this as my early morning lesson, combined with a health benefit
  • I take different routes to work, usually walking for 45–90 minutes
  • I discovered wonderful areas of my neighborhood which I never saw before (even found a nice vacant lot for someone to build a house)
  • I’m looking forward to get out the door in the morning
  • I’ve experimented with walking back home, but settled for taking the bus back. I enjoy the morning walk much more
  • No need to wait for weekends or vacations. You can integrate small hikes into your daily life

Here is a short video from one of my walks:

And some impressions I collected: