Content area
Full Text
Correspondence to Dr Paul Kelly, Physical Activity for Health Research Centre, Institute for Sport, Physical Education and Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9YL, UK; [email protected]
Introduction
Regular walking is known to confer many physical health benefits including better physical fitness, reduction in disease risk and reduced risk of disease specific and all-cause mortality.1 2 In addition to physical health, mental health also contributes substantially to global health burden3 and there is well-established evidence for the link between physical activity and several mental health outcomes.4 This includes variable levels of evidence for depression, anxiety, psychological distress, well-being, cognitive function, dementia, sleep, self-esteem, chronic fatigue and psychological events.4
While the link between physical activity and mental health is well established,5 6 substantially less is known about the role of walking in this respect.1 Morris and Hardman identified this gap in their seminal ‘Walking to Health’ paper in 1997 and stated that ‘The pleasurable and therapeutic, psychological and social dimensions of walking, whilst evident, have been surprisingly little studied’.7 Addressing this gap in knowledge is important as walking is an accessible behaviour conducted by all ages and sexes, and as such one with great public health potential.8
Consequently, the aims of this review are to
provide an overview of what has been learnt in the intervening 20 years in regard to preventing mental ill-being, promoting mental well-being and intervention effects;
Highlight current evidence gaps and research priorities.
Methods
We adopted the established five-stage scoping review process proposed by Arksey and O’Malley.9
Stage 1.1: identify the research question
We formulated the following research question: ‘What is known about the associations and effects of walking when considering various specified mental health outcomes?’
For the purposes of this review, we adopted the following definition of walking which we have used previously: walking was taken to mean all forms of purposeful or incidental bipedal locomotion within reasonable speed ranges (ie, not running or jogging).1
Stage 1.2: identify the relevant outcomes
The review team discussed each mental health outcome identified in the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Report for relevance, appropriateness and feasibility for this study.4 Two authors were chartered psychologists registered with the British Psychological Society and...