Reading While Walking: What the Research Says About Movement, Comprehension, and the Treadmill Desk | Chapterly Blog
Reading While Walking: What the Research Says About Movement, Comprehension, and the Treadmill Desk Quick Answer: Reading while walking is workable for most readers under specific conditions and unworkable under others. Light walking on a treadmill or a flat predictable path at speeds below roughly 3 mph (4.8 km/h) costs you very little reading comprehension while delivering most of the benefits of light exercise — improved blood flow, mood, and a small acute boost to attention. Walking outdoors on uneven terrain or in traffic is dangerous and the comprehension hit is large because navigation consumes attention. Speed-walking, jogging, or running is incompatible with serious reading. The optimal setup for the average reader is a treadmill walking pad at 1.5-2.5 mph, large-font ebook on a tablet or stand, and material at or below your normal reading level. For dense, novel, or analytical material, sit down — the small comprehension cost compounds quickly when the text already taxes your working memory. There is a corner of the productivity internet that has fallen in love with reading on a treadmill. Walking pads under standing desks are a $200 product category. Founders post photos of themselves logging book chapters and step counts simultaneously. The...