Hot girl walks have been the talk of the town – er, TikTok – since first content creator Mia Lind sharing her method for looking and feeling better in 2021, which involved walking four miles a day while focusing on positive, grateful thoughts. Since then, thousands of other TikTokers (and real people) have taken the Hot Girl Walk trend and made it their own, adapting it to their needs and circumstances. For example, some people run a shorter distance in order to stay more consistent, while others find ways to add an extra fitness challenge to practice. This trend has also fueled a new trend, known as “silent walk” AKA simply walking without headphones and carefully observing your surroundings.
As those of us in the Northern Hemisphere regularly enter the colder months, we want to make the case for taking your Hot Girl Walk habit with you into winter, effectively making it a “A cold girl walks” – which has become a micro-trend in its own right on TikTok. By talking to experts, we found that walking in the cold has many health benefits and few side effects. Here’s everything you need to know about implementing a chill girl walk into your life and how it can improve your physical and mental health.
How Walking in the Cold Benefits Your Well-Being
Walking outside is generally a great way to help you manage stress, according to Dr. Gayle Watts and Dr. Alicia Brown, clinical psychologists at Turning the tides Psychology. “Often, when we feel stressed or a little disconnected, we are not very present in the moment,” experts explain. “Cold can be an instant way to bring us back into our environment. Being outside in the cold can help stimulate the senses and make us feel more alert. It’s good for attention and concentration, which helps us feel more engaged.
Andrew Cuthbert, Psy.D, clinical director at Tips at Timber Creek, is also excited about the idea of a cold girls’ walk. “There are many benefits to walking in the cold, not only because of the walking and the cold, but also because of other things related to both,” says Dr. Cuthbert. “Walking has many mental and physical benefits, with the most significant research investigating its ability to reduce symptoms of depression. It can also help improve your mood, reduce anxiety, improve cognitive performanceAnd improve creativity. Being outside and in the cold has many benefits, helping us gain perspective, feel more joyful and connected. The expert also notes that being outside in the cold can encourage you to breathe more deeply and get out into the sun, which is much harder to do as the days gradually get shorter.
Also, on a purely physical levelWalking is a simple (and free) way to work your muscles, while potentially reducing your risk of heart problems and promoting weight loss if that’s something you’re looking to do.
How to Implement the Chilly Girl Walk
Walking four miles can certainly be good for you as long as you’re careful and listen to your body so you don’t overexert yourself, but you absolutely don’t have to walk four miles a day to participate and reap the benefits. Spending five or ten minutes walking in a local park is always better for your well-being than zero minutes, and being hard on yourself not to walk longer. it won’t work to motivate you.
“How often people should walk will depend on their individual lifestyle and what fits best with their other activities,” explain Drs. Watts and Brown. “It can also be somewhat weather dependent, as walking on a cool, cold, sunny day can give someone a very different feeling than walking on a cold, wet, gray day. Generally speaking, spending two hours a week in nature is the optimal amount of time in terms of benefits for our mental health.
As for what to do during your cold girls’ walk — especially if your brain has a sneaky habit of being in perpetual overdrive — there are plenty of options for you. Alison Cromer, LLMSW, advisor to Tips at Timber Creek which Dr. Cuthbert often consults for insight into social media trends, says your walk could be a great opportunity to catch up on your podcast queue. “For those who want to ‘habit-build,’ a girls’ walk can be a great time to practice mindfulness techniques like meditation, listen to a podcast on a topic that interests you, or just relax,” she says. “I love the expression ‘move a muscle, change a thought’; Sometimes just getting up and going outside can be the best thing for our brains.
Meanwhile, Drs. Watts and Brown are proponents of “quiet walking” to improve your mental well-being. “A walk with the girls in the fresh air is the perfect opportunity to practice a little daily mindfulness and try to be present in the moment. When we listen to music or a podcast, we tend to miss this opportunity because our attention is absorbed by what we can hear. Different people will have different preferences, but we always recommend trying at least one walk without headphones or technology and practicing using all five senses – noticing what you can see, hear, smell, touch and taste.
A pretty big obstacle when it comes to cold weather girl walks is lack of motivation – but Rachel Tomajczyka professional trailer racer and Merrell athlete, has some ideas to overcome it. “I know it can be tempting to stay warm indoors instead of going out in the winter, but if you have the right gear and are a little creative, you can tag along on the sexy girls’ walk to the end of winter,” she said. . “In winter, spice up your walk by bringing a hot beverage like coffee, tea or hot chocolate, or enjoy the winter wonderland and transform your walk into snowshoes or cross-country skiing! »
Make sure you prepare well, wearing warm clothes, gloves and hats to avoid the cold, and investing in non-slip walking shoes if you walk in wet or icy areas. It’s also important to wear SPF on exposed areas of your skin whenever you’re out in the sun – yes, absolutely. even in winter.
When to walk when it’s cold
If you’re wondering when is the best time to take your daily walk, there are a few things to consider, such as what natural phenomena you might want to experience to enhance your walk. “Any time of day is ideal for walking or running,” says Tomajczyk. “I usually run in the morning, but my favorite time of day to run or hike is right around sunset. I love seeing the sunset on a mountain or in the forest on a trail. It’s so peaceful.
Unfortunately, there’s a pretty big reason why you might prefer to walk outside when there’s plenty of natural light. “A recent survey found that nearly two-thirds of women experience some degree of anxiety or reluctance to exercise outdoors when nights are darker,” explain Drs. Watts and Brown. “If someone feels anxious while walking, they are unlikely to reap the benefits of a chilly girls’ walk, as their threat system will be constantly activated. It may therefore be helpful to organize walks with friends or plan a walk somewhere safe so that they can fully enjoy the benefits of walking in winter.
Where to walk when it’s cold
Walking in general is a great idea, whether you’re just walking around the block on your lunch break or heading out for a week-long hike. With that in mind, if you have access to any type of nature, like local preserves, bodies of water, or hiking trails, this can bring powerful added benefits to your chill girl walk. For example, Arizona-based Tomajczyk loves hiking Mount Humphreys and exploring the rock formations of Sedona.
“I always think it’s beneficial to have more access to nature when possible,” says Dr. Cuthbert. “For example, we know that having parks in busy cities can improve mental health, and it can sometimes be a good idea to avoid city walks and go to a park. The expert also notes how nice it is to walk on grass or dirt, and adds that these surfaces are easier on your joints than concrete.
It is well known that a strong connection with nature can help protect against mental health issues, so adding this element to your cold girls’ walk can only benefit you. If you live very far from large open spaces, don’t worry: “This absolutely applies to walking in parks, near fields or on dirt paths, as well as in the countryside,” say Drs. . Watts and Brown. “When we walk in these types of environments, our cortisol levels (aka our ‘stress hormone’) are lower than when we walk in urban environments, surrounded by concrete.”
Is walking in the cold better for you?
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, walking is good for you no matter when, where or how you do it (within reason, of course). However, there are some health benefits specific to cold weather that are worth knowing about. “Pleasure study on being in the cold versus the hot revealed that warm weather triggers more relational creativity, while cold weather evokes more referential creativity,” says Dr. Cuthbert. “Generally speaking, this could mean that weather temperatures can influence certain tasks.” Simply put, walking in warm weather can help you connect with others, while walking in cold weather can help you jumpstart your creative projects and ideas.
Essentially, walking in the cold is no better for you than walking in the heat; it’s just that we might need a little more encouragement to do it when the weather outside makes our toes numb. For Dr. Cuthbert, it may take a little self-deception to get you out: “Go ahead and do it,” he says simply. “Don’t try to convince yourself to go out in the cold. Just start putting on your winter gear and clothes and go for it. Once you get there, you’ll be glad you did.
