How I Use Walking to Reset My Nervous System (and My Mood)

Walking calms your nervous system because it moves your body without adding more stress. Research shows 20 to 30 minutes outside lowers cortisol, your main stress hormone, while hard cardio can push it up. In perimenopause, a daily walk with no phone is one of the simplest ways to reset your mood.

It was a Tuesday in the middle of one of James’s work trips, and by 4:30 I had done the pickup loop twice, burned the first batch of chicken, and snapped at my kids over the shoes piled by the back door. Nothing big. My shoulders were up by my ears and my voice was coming out sharper than I wanted it to.

So I left my phone on the counter, told the kids I’d be back in 20, and walked out the door with no podcast, no music and nobody to call, just me and the loop around our neighborhood. When I got back the shoes were still by the door and the chicken was still burned, and I laughed about both. Same kitchen. Different mom.

That walk is the most underrated thing I do for my body in this phase of life, and for years I treated it like the leftover workout, the thing I did when I couldn’t get to the REAL one.

Why Hard Cardio Stopped Working for Me in Perimenopause

A few years ago my answer to a stressful day was a harder workout. I was eating about 1,200 calories a day and doing hard cardio on top of it, and I thought that combo was the discipline part. I had dark circles under my eyes and my body wasn’t changing.

A study in the Journal of Endocrinological Investigation tested how workout intensity affects cortisol. Thirty minutes at an easy, walking-level effort didn’t raise it in any meaningful way, moderate effort pushed it up about 40%, and hard effort pushed it up about 83%. It was a small study in 12 trained men, so I hold it loosely, and it still matched what my body had been telling me for a while.

Hard workouts have their place. Stacked on top of undereating and a packed calendar, they turn into one more stressor on a body that’s already running hot. More sweat and less food are the rules a lot of us grew up on, and they’re not working for us anymore.

I see this in my consult forms constantly. Of the 6,176 women who have filled one out, 83% were already exercising when they came to me and 52% rated their stress a 4 or 5 out of 5. Y’all are doing a ton, and most of you are on a full stress tank before you even lace up.

What a Walk Does for Your Nervous System

Think of your nervous system as a gas pedal and a brake. The gas kicks in when you’re late, stressed or running on no food, and the brake is what lets your body rest, digest and recover. Most of us ride the gas from the first alarm to the last load of laundry, and an easy walk is one of the few things that taps the brake without asking anything else of you.

Researchers at the University of Michigan asked adults to take a nature pill, time outside somewhere that felt like nature, at least three times a week for eight weeks, and measured their cortisol before and after. Twenty minutes was enough to lower it, and 20 to 30 minutes gave the biggest drop for the time spent. The rules they gave people are my favorite part: go in daylight, skip hard exercise, and no phone, social media, calls or conversation.

That’s my silent walk, written up as a study. Ha!

Twenty minutes, no phone, easy pace. That’s my whole reset.

Why I Walk in Silence

Most of my walks are silent. No phone, no podcast, no music. My phone is where the group texts, the work emails and the “Mom, where’s my” messages live, and leaving it on the counter turns the walk into the one stretch of my day where nobody needs anything from me.

Stanford researchers sent people on a 90-minute walk either through a green, tree-lined area or along a busy road. The nature walkers reported less rumination afterward, which is that loop where your brain replays the same worry over and over, and brain scans showed less activity in an area tied to it. The busy-road group got neither.

The first few minutes I’m still writing the grocery list in my head. By the end I’ve usually worked out whatever was bugging me, or decided it didn’t matter. If you walk alone and want your phone for safety, put it on do not disturb and keep it in your pocket. It still counts.

Walking and Your Mood in Perimenopause

Moods in this phase of life are no joke. A 2024 review out of University College London of seven studies and 9,141 women found that women in perimenopause had about a 40% higher risk of depressive symptoms than women who hadn’t started the transition. If you’ve felt snappier or flatter lately, you’re in very good company.

The dose of movement that helps is smaller than you’d think. A meta-analysis in JAMA Psychiatry of 15 studies and more than 191,000 adults found that people getting half the recommended activity, about 75 minutes a week of moderate movement, had an 18% lower risk of depression than people doing none. At the full 150 minutes it was 25%, which works out to about a 20-minute walk most days.

A walk doesn’t replace real care, so if low mood sticks around, please talk to your doctor. For the 4:30-on-a-Tuesday kind of edge, a walk is my first move.

How to Start Using Walking to Reset Your Stress

Twenty minutes can feel like a lot when your calendar belongs to everyone else, so start smaller than you think you need to.

Start with 10 minutes and build to 20. The research points to 20 to 30 as the sweet spot, and the 10 minutes you’ll do beats the 30 you’ll skip. The loop around the block after dinner counts, and so does the long way in from the back of the parking lot.

Leave the phone behind, or silence it. No podcast and no calls. If you want it for safety, do not disturb and a pocket work fine.

Keep the pace easy. You should be able to hold a conversation. This is the brake, so there’s no pace to hit and nothing to prove.

Eat enough to back it up. A walk won’t undo a 1,200-calorie day. When I started eating MORE, with macros built for my body, I lost 6 pounds and 6 inches in my first 6 weeks. The walk calms things down, and the food gives your body what it needs to release stored fat.

Ready for a Plan Built for This Phase of Life

I never set out to have a coaching business. I was a mom doing everything right and getting nothing for it, and then I found the FASTer Way, started eating more, and turned into an accidental health coach.

Now I get to watch the women I coach do the same thing. Karen lost 8 inches. Shannon lost 7.5 inches and 5.5 pounds, and Bonnie lost 3.5 inches and 4.5 pounds. So proud of them!

The FASTer Way membership gives you custom macros, daily workouts, weekly meal plans, daily accountability and coaching from me. If you want someone to hand you the plan so you can stop guessing, this is IT!

Join me in the FASTer Way membership here. Take your walk today, then come join us. Are you in?

Here to help. Love y’all ✌🏼