Swing Them Arms

According to a study, headed by Steven Collins at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, arm swinging while one walks is an integral part of the energy economy of human gait. Holding one's arms as one walks requires 12 percent more metabolic energy, compared with swinging them. The arms' pendulum swing also helps dampen the bobbly up-and-down motion of walking, which is itself an energy drain for the muscles of the lower legs.

If you hold your arms while walking, this movement, called vertical ground reaction moment, rises by a whopping 63 percent.

Should you prefer to walk with an opposite-to-normal swing -- meaning that your right arm moves in sync with your right leg and your left arm is matched to the motion of your left leg -- the energy cost of using your shoulder muscles will fall. The downside, though, is that opposite-to-normal swing forces up the metabolic rate by a quarter.

The Insomniac mused over this report for quite some time -- maybe two minutes altogether -- and came up a brilliant (if he does say so himself) idea. Why not mandate everyone in the name of global warming to swing their arms while walking?