How to Avoid Boredom During Your Daily Walk

Taking a walk every day is a great way to lose weight, lower your stress levels and improve your overall fitness. However, walking does have one drawback: It can get boring and repetitive. Unlike challenging sports that require your mental and physical concentration and skill, walking is a gentle activity that gives you an abundance of time to reflect. Fortunately, it's quite easy to avoid the doldrums while walking if you're willing to plan ahead.

If you're getting tired of listening to your own thoughts while you walk, consider bringing some entertainment along. Listening to music on your MP3 player or smartphone is a good way to motivate you to walk fast. You can try losing yourself in another world by listening to an exciting audiobook. If you're particularly skilled and not planning to walk along a busy street, you can always read a book or a magazine as you walk. Any of these options will help you feel more inspired to exercise and make the time pass more quickly.

Just a friendly reminder: If you do listen to music or audiobooks on your walk, be sure to keep the sound down low enough so that you can hear people and cars around you. You should also avoid playing around with your music player or smartphone while crossing intersections. Walking on a track is a safe option for walkers who really get into their entertainment.

Walking on the same streets every day will get boring fast. Every couple of weeks, alter your route and try walking on some different streets so that you'll see some new sights. Be adventurous; if you see something interesting on a street you've never walked, check it out. On a weekend, consider taking the bus or driving to a completely different walking spot in your town, such as a paved trail or an outdoor shopping mall.

Bringing along a walking buddy is a great way to socialize and work out at the same time. If you want to encourage your family to exercise more, consider making an evening walk a regular family activity. You can also team up with friends to form your own walking group. If your friends don't have a schedule that matches with yours, consider starting your own neighborhood walking group.

You don't have to walk with a human buddy; if you have a dog, you'll always have someone who wants to go outside on a walk with you. Even some cats have been known to tolerate walking on a leash!

Walking at a slow and gingerly place may feel relaxing, but your body will probably get bored. Try picking up the pace while you walk. If you can cover more distance in a shorter time, you can start walking to new destinations. If you're walking to lose weight, boosting your speed will help you burn more calories during each walk.

Have you been meaning to talk to long-distance friend or a relative that you don't see very often? Your daily walk is the perfect time to make some phone calls and help pass the time. If you don't want to hold your phone up to your ear during the whole conversation, think about getting a Bluetooth headset. Be sure to pick a quiet street for your walk so that you can actually hear your conversation.

Setting goals for each walk can help you challenge your mind and your body to help prevent boredom. For example, you could make a goal to reach a particular destination in a set amount of time. Over time, change your goal to make it more challenging. Instead of trying to reach your end point in an hour, try to make it there in 55 minutes the next time. Aim to make goals that are attainable and meaningful. You can come up with a list of rewards for reaching your goals to help motivate you.

It's easy to get stuck in the habit of walking to the same destinations over and over. Without even knowing it, you may be overlooking a hidden park or other feature within your neighborhood. Look on a map to see some parks or other features you could walk to instead of your usual destinations.

Today's gadgets include plenty of options geared for those who love to exercise. On your smartphone, you can download a variety of apps to track where you walk, your pace and much more. These apps can be fun for tracking each walk you take to help you log your exercise progress. Some apps even let you share your data with your friends. You can also buy devices made just for exercise tracking, such as the FitBit.

Of course, you don't have to pony up gobs of money for a fancy gadget to gather some interesting statistics about your routine. Even a pedometer can give you useful information. Consider setting a goal to reach a certain number of steps each day, and use your pedometer to mark you progress.

Even with entertainment and new goals, walking can still bore your body and your mind eventually. If you're using walking to lose weight, mix up your routine by adding another activity, such as biking or yoga, one day a week. Challenging your body in new ways is the best way to keep burning calories. If you're not walking for fitness reasons, it's still a good idea to break up the monotony with a new activity occasionally.

Walking is a fantastic way to enjoy the outdoor air and get in some exercise at the same time. However, walking doesn't require deep concentration or excellent fitness prowess, potentially leading to mental and physical boredom. If you want to avoid boredom on your walk, you need to adopt some new ways to keep yourself interested in the activity.