Talking while walking

Dawn Venema, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Division of Physical Therapy Education at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, specialising in balance and mobility in older adults. She is an expert in the effects of ‘dual-tasking’ – the act of doing more than one thing at once, so that your attention is divided.

Dr Venema discussed the results of some recent research in an interview with www.elderbranch.com: “For some people, even if they were simply trying to engage in a conversation at the same time they were walking, they would become unsteady, slow down, or even have to stop moving.”

All my life I thought that dual-tasking – let’s call it multi-tasking – was a good thing. You can do so many things at the same time, and so fast!

Now, looking back, maybe it would have been better if I had concentrated more on one single task in some of my multi-tasking periods. Particularly, I should have concentrated more on those tasks I did not want to deal with in the first place.

Usually, things that you want to avoid doing don’t take up too much time. But they certainly irritate you as you tackle them. Mixing them up with other tasks during a “multi-tasking period” might even make you swell with anger – but then your anger affects all the other tasks you’re attempting, too.

Today, I actually feel more comfortable talking on the phone while I walk – most probably for a totally different reason than those explored by Dr. Venema’s research! Still, until the day I walk into a wall as I am chatting away on my mobile, I will continue to feel quite young.

To read the full interview with Dr. Venema, please click here.

Song of the week: Sheryl Crow – All I Wanna Do (1993)