strolling
{{Short description|Walking for recreation}}
{{Other uses}}
Strolling is walking along or through at a leisurely pace. Strolling is a pastime and activity enjoyed worldwide as a leisure activity. The object of strolling is to walk at a slightly slower pace in an attempt to absorb the surroundings.
Works featuring the flâneur, French for a “strolling urban observer”, have appeared in European and American literature since the late 18th century.{{cite book|author=James Werner|title=American Flaneur: The Cosmic Physiognomy of Edgar Allan Poe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zj6TAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|date=15 April 2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-87985-3|page=1}}
File:Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida - Strolling along the Seashore - Google Art Project.jpg, Strolling along the Seashore, 1909 (Sorolla Museum)]]
Etymology
The verb form of "stroll" may have originated from a c.1600 Cant word. This word may have been derived from the German word strollen, which in itself is a derivative of the German word strolchen, which means "to roam, travel about aimlessly, drift, rove."{{cite web |url=http://www.dictionarist.com/strolchen |title = strolchen - Meaning and definition - Dictionarist.com}} The German noun strolch refers to any sort of vagabond or rogue.
Before the American Revolution, a stroller was the British word for a vagabond.{{cite book|last1=Phillips|first1=Kevin|title=1775:A Good Year for Revolution|date=2012|publisher=Viking|location=New York|isbn=978-0-670-02512-1|page=152}}
The noun stroll came from the verb in 1814. The term "stroller" was coined in the 1920s as a "child’s push-chair".{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=stroller&searchmode=none|title=Online Etymology Dictionary|work=etymonline.com}} The modern-day usage of the word "stroll" does not differ greatly from its older derivatives.
Health outcomes
Strolling is not an aerobic exercise. The body's energy demands whilst strolling do not require extra oxygen. Physicians therefore do not recommend strolling, but rather recommend more vigorous and aerobic forms of exercise. The American Medical Association's committee on Exercise and Physical Fitness has stated that "walking briskly, not just strolling, is the simplest and also one of the best forms of exercise".
Researchers investigating the cognitive benefits to exercise have also concluded that strolling results in no significant gains to cognitive health as people age. Brisk walking and other everyday activities, such as house work or gardening, have demonstrated significant benefits to prevention of cognitive decline as the population ages.Butler, R., Foreete, F., and Greengross, B.S. (2004) Maintaining Cognitive Health in an Aging Society. The Journal of The Royal Society for the Promotion of Health. Vol 124 No3. 119-121.
Other researchers at the Mayo Clinic posit that all activity that is not sleeping, eating, or sports activity still contributes to overall health. This has been named "Non-exercise activity thermogenesis" (NEAT) and includes everything from strolling to fidgeting in the analysis of energy consumption. Utilizing NEAT research has generated many ideas about social design of offices, schools, and living spaces to promote any physical activity, such as removing places to sit to promote standing and pacing.James A. Levine, Mark W. Vander Weg, James O. Hill, Robert C. Klesges. (2006) Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
The Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon of Societal Weight Gain. Arterioscler Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. 26:729-736. The body operates at a more balanced level when strolling. The heart beat is more balanced. The blood pressure is well balanced.
International traditions
In Spain, a stroll is called a Paseo and is a popular after-dinner pastime. The participants, whose membership is egalitarian, wear their best clothing. Activities include chatting with neighbors and acquaintances, flirting, and gossiping.{{cite book|author=Peter Kerr|title=Manana, Manana: One Mallorcan Summer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=48EJVX0jMY0C&pg=PA47|date=1 May 2004|publisher=Globe Pequot Press|isbn=978-1-59228-407-8|page=47}} Several streets in countries with a Spanish cultural history incorporate the word: Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City, Paseo del Prado, Havana, Paseo de Roxas in the Philippines, and Buenos Aires's Paseo La Plaza.
The similar, and widespread custom in Italy for an evening walk is called la passeggiata.{{Cite book|last=Del Negro|first=Giovanna|title=The Passeggiata and Popular Culture in an Italian Town: Folklore and the Performance of Modernity|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|year=2004|isbn=9780773527225|location=Montreal}}
Strolling or walking (Russian: гулять, gulyat
The 19th-century Russian literary critic Vissarion Belinsky described St. Petersburg as the center of urban strolling in that country, by contrast with Moscow.{{cite book|author=Olga Matich|title=Petersburg/Petersburg: Novel and City, 1900–1921|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fT5PiEry0H8C&pg=PA198|date=18 November 2010|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-23603-8|page=198}} Rural strolls have long been a staple of Russian fiction and songs; Tchaikovsky composed a musical accompaniment to the Nikolay Grekov poem “We haven’t long to stroll”.{{cite book|title=Tchaikovsky's Complete Songs: A Companion with Texts and Translations|url=https://archive.org/details/islandatendofwor00tayl|url-access=registration|date=October 2003|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0-253-21676-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/islandatendofwor00tayl/page/77 77]–78}}
See also
References
External links
- [http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/out_and_about/312098/will_modernday_flaneurs_help_rebuild_fragmented_communities.html Will modern-day flaneurs help rebuild fragmented communities?] (essay on http://www.theecologist.org)
{{Walking}}
{{Authority control}}