Does Your Brain Need a Spa Day?

Step up your mood with the surprising happiness and stress-relieving benefits of taking a simple walk.

- KAITLYN PHOENIX and MARISA COHEN

There are those days - perhaps you have them nearly every day - when you feel more irritated and moodier than you'd care to admit. Your kids are fighting over the Roku remote while their unwashed dishes languish in the sink; your boss is passing her pressures on to you; and your dog just made a midnight snack of your new rug. You may want to fly into a rage or bury your head in your pillow, but there is another option: Simply throw on your favorite pair of sneakers and go out for a walk.

If you're taking an antidepressant, we're not suggesting that you simply walk instead. But putting one foot in front of the other can lift you up-it can improve your mood, lower your stress levels and even clear away brain fog and rev up your brainpower (in addition to all the physical benefits, such as improving your heart health, reducing your risk of type 2 diabetes, protecting your bones and easing joint pain). Walking works out your mental knots in several ways. For starters, it floods the brain with neurochemicals that help boost your mood, says Jennifer Heisz, Ph.D., an associate professor in the department of kinesiology at McMaster University and the author of Move the Body, Heal the Mind. These include endorphins that reduce pain, serotonin to help you stay calm and dopamine to activate your brain's reward system.

"Walking also makes you less reactive to everyday stressors," Heisz adds. That's important, because losing your cool when you realize the cashier forgot to remove the security tag from your new pants isn't just exhausting but actually bad for your health. "These stressors can gradually erode our physical and mental health by damaging cells and causing an immune response that increases inflammation in the body and the brain," Heisz explains.