Ever wondered why walking around museums is weirdly tiring? At normal speed our legs act like pendulums, swinging forward from the hip & saving us a huge amount of energy. In "museum shuffle" our muscles must do ALL the work of constant readjustment. So cake in the cafe is scientifically justified ๐ฅณ
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This took an unexpected turn at the end, but one I am totally on board with! ๐ฐ๐ผ๏ธ
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Thank you! I thought it was only me who felt like that. I've often taken to avoiding museums in favour of public parks when travelling. But if science says I need more cake, so be it.
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So true!
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Weird! I love it
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Applying force isn't quite equivalent to doing work sadly, so if I eat the cake I gain weight and the muscles have more to carry... ๐
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Museums can help by not putting the information low down, so we shuffle straining to see over people legs and coats. Please note British Museum. National Portrait Gallery has is right with text at eye level. A much better experience.
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So true. I call it the cultural death march and I love it.
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I like the way you think ๐๐
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Parades, too-we did about a half mile parade that took over an hour to cover the route. Itโs amazing how tiring it is.
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I have always wondered about this!
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Man, this is really good to know!
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May the cafe serve Tiramisu ๐
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is this why my legs feel exhausted and weak whenever i have to walk in a slow crowd, like leaving a crowded movie theatre?
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Must be why I get exhausted shuffling around disneyland.
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Your reasoning skills are amazing.
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Got it๐ค๐ค๐ค I'll need a caddy now
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Thank you so much, this is the info that makes me realize i must have a scooter/wheelchair to go to museums with my current back issues, instead of just feeling like a wimp
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TBT one does not need justification to eat cake. wink wink
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My hypothesis was always that 4+ hours standing/walking is tiring in any case, but it feels better to walk 4h at a brisk pace rather than shuffle around (museum, airport queues, shopping malls).
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It's the same going around shops.
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๐ฎ I have often wondered why museums make be so tired.
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Note to self: Yet another reason for strength training -- stronger muscles and burning off the cake.
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You're one of the great scientists of our time, Helen.
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I've always found that, while I can walk for hours with no issues, half an hour at the mall makes my legs sore. Same idea.
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It's tiring and, at times, painful, when your hips can't stretch. ๐๐๐
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Wow, surprisingly useful information!
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Standing behind a desk on a concrete floor for 7 hours the last two Saturdays I can relate to that
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Snacks are life. Please take care of your self.
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I consider it my civic duty to support museums by stopping in their cafรฉ for cake and a drink!
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Ah ha! I thought it was just me and old age. Thank you.
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Those stabilizer muscles get to workkkkk
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Well, that took an unexpected turn at the end, but still interesting.
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I agree
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good to know!
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It's just logical.๐
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100% agree!
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Scientifically justified cake always tastes the best.
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Maybe that explains why I get more tired walking with my wife around the shops, than I do when we go walking in the hills.
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Did my first visit to MOMA in about 20 years in November and I can assert that this is true. Iโve walked 15,000 steps a day for years and was absolutely beaten after four hours navigating MOMA.
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Thank you for explaining why I donโt die from exhaustion during a non stop fast walking 12-hour shift.
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I do the "leg as a physical pendulum" calculation in lectures, with silly walk, naturally.
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Thank you! I love visiting museums, and always wondered why I feel tired afterward.
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I have been very aware of museum fatigue, because my legs are moving slowly. I especially feel it when the museum is crowded. I navigate through rooms to see art, but also have to navigate around insensitive people who walk in front of a piece of art that I am looking at. Museum etiquette!
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This is the sort of science I love
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Lol ๐
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Itโs probably also why shopping is so tiring, and cafes are proliferating on high streets
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Concrete floors
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Thank you for this great explanation!
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This conclusion tracks, logically. -E
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this can happen in shopping too
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I always say that we deserve a tasty treat after standing in line at theme parks.
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I get it, but whatโs the tipping point. When someone walks slowly their heart rate doesnโt usually go up. You have to put some effort in and get some speed to get the desired heart rate.
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As a museum employee, who seems to power walk through, I never get tired. I will only give one thing of advice to guests. If you do stop and enjoy the exhibits, please please please donโt just stop in the middle of the hallway. Now I have to museum shuffle to get through ๐คฃ
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A random post I totally agree with. Thank you!
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THANK YOU! The exhaustion I felt a few years back was inhumane. Now I know why ๐
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I wondered why my legs were so tired walking around in a museum. Yet I walk every day for exercise.
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I like your thinking!
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Does this apply for indoor shopping centres? I'm tired and aching ๐ซ
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And I was thinking the aching hip when Christmas shopping was just my inner scrounge playing with my head โฆ thanks for the explanation ๐
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Visits are only tiring for my family and/or friends because they have to drag me along to keep from reading about every exhibit.
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Good to know.
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You will no doubt have read โInfantry Training 1914โ thereโs a science to marching effectively. Close to 4 miles per hour โฆ in full kit!
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I was wondering where this was going and I concur
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I approve this message
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That was a long way around to saying eat cake.
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I have always wondered why this is a thing. Now I know to have more cake. The same must apply when food shopping!
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I love museums, and ancient buildings but the feeling of connectivity with old objects seems to suck energy out of me. Admiration, and awe both grants and takes a lot of energy. I love the cafe part, as I could probably live in one due to people, energy and the coffee.
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That explains it all. I always get tired walking around museums. Even though I love them.
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Interesting, thanks, and the hard floors don't help!
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That explains why I get so tired walking with slow walkers!
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But we have got to proactively work to save museums, libraries, and all other collections types. We need to send for them on the Dead Bird. DT/P2025 wants to gut IMLS and nonprofits. Our curators, archivists, and other specialists must be saved, and they need to be here.
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THANK YOU! (Sorry to shout, enthusiasm)
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I find walking down the street with slow people exhausting
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Maybe the cake should be eaten both before and after the visit. After all, one needs fortitude for viewing, right? #justifyanythingcake
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It's the standing, not the walking
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Now this is fascinating! I've wondered about this forever and thought it was just me.
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I love museums and am taking this advice with me ๐
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wow i never knew that
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I HAVE always wondered that. Thanks.
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I'm saving this post for when my husband asks, "Do we really need to stop for snacks?"
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I have to add museum gift shops - I can spend in there just as much time as in the exhibits!
Too many interesting items!
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๐
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I admire the depth of your analysis, however, Iโve always felt that itโs more โAperol on the terraceโ but perhaps I spend more time in European Museums in summer?
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What about the zoo justle (jog hustle)?
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An excellent piece of research
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Same things with browsing through shopping malls, right? This will help me immensely when my husband wants to drag me through a mall, remarking "Oh, look, they have a [fill in name of random chain store]!"
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I like this
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That's all the excuse I need for cake!
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Museum power walking should be a thing.
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Cake solves everything Helen. And if cake can't solve it, hot chocolate and marshmallows will!
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You must be wildly out of shape
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Did not see that coming. The ending makes this story so good.
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๐
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Interesting!
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Correct. Additionally, all the mental stimuli lead to dehydration, so that can of San Pellegrino is also justified.
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Nice reasoning! ๐
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I like that theory. I like cake!
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This skeet solves one of lifeโs most baffling mysteries!
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thank god it's normal that my back hurts every time!
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Perfect conclusion
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We are like cars Long roads where you can hold your speed get better fuel economy than stopping and starting in a city
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Double that feeling for a childrenโs museum !
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I like museums that have benches so you can sit and really take in paintings that intrigue you.
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We spent five and a half hours shuffling round the Vatican museum after walking a couple of miles there and then a couple of miles back. Only thing to sustain us was a bottle of water and then a one scoop gelato and a sit down before walking back. It was worth the effort. There's so much to see.
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Sure, but frosting smears on the paintings is highly discouraged
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I thought it was just the lack of O2 from museum air to preserve old oil paintings Plus ALL those people hmmming.
Gosh add in moving body weight slowly And my cafe visit for triple espresso w that cake is totally ok.
In UK house-museums I'm known to hit tea cafe 1st & last! Too many family pix!
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Museum fatigue: no matter how great the exhibition, you WILL be tired after two hours. Include this knowledge in your plan and live happily ever after.
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I get 'cooking back' for the same reason. Christmas cooking back is especially uncomfortable!
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Actually, I HAVE wondered about that. Thank you!
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The struggle is real.
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Never thought about that! It makes so much sense! I always chalked it up to being an introvert out in public for longer than usual.
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My favorite part is shuffling around the gift shopโฆ ๐
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Shoppers shuffle
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Now that is news I can use.
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I had a delightful chat about being โmuseum tiredโ sat with a visitor in the Sedgwick a couple of months ago (she was on her third Cambridge Museum of the day!) I really hope she finds this ๐ If I see her again Iโll recommend nearby cake!
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We call it 'museum leg' in our family. It's an indication that we've done enough art and need a beer.
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Legit!
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Stopping and starting surely also a significant factor (acceleration/deceleration/change of velocity) Police /security guards have perfected a slow efficient walk i am fairly certain... (after reading Guards Guards!) Cake/Donut justification
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Realizing that most people at the museum are probably stoned โ at least the ones who insist on standing inches from me while ignoring me and being weird about personal space โ and that let me treat them with a bit more grace.
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It is also because most museums have concrete, marble or other hard-material floors which is hard to maintain walking on. Stop, sit, eat the cake!
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Thatโฆactually really explains a lot, thanks! (I have a bad hip, so this does a lot to explain why walking is so tiring)
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I felt it so much at the Vatican, they lead you down a thousand halls and everyoneโs looking up at the ceilings in one giant shuffling mass. My legs hurt more from that than from walking up and down stairs and bridges across Italy
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Typically, I walk for just under 2 hrs a day. No stress, no worries, and no back pain. Less than an hour in a gallery or museum gives me an aching lower back.
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Itโs the same thing with my back. I have to have disc replacement, realignment & fusion surgery on 3 levels of my lumbar spine in March so for the last three years whenever I walk I shuffle my feet and my walking heart rate went from 75 bpm up to 105 bpm and I feel exhausted after a short walk.
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Itโs the weight of history. ๐๐
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Have wanted to know this since I was 12. Please have my house & all its contents
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I felt this was going somewhere, and then that landing!
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๐คฃ
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Have been waiting soooo long for this scientific justification ๐
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Yeah, stop-startโฆ backtrack. Energy spent trying to take stuff in and remember as well as moving around. Combined with AuDHD in my case. Any large museum Iโve visited - I will have seen only a tiny part of
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That explains why my 50 years of arthritis is in agony while shopping in any store for anything.
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This makes so much sense! Ty
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So sitting for a bit deep in contemplation is a good thing? Or cake? Thanks! ๐๐๐ฅฐ
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Sugar isn't that great for muscel fatigue, have some fresh fruit or cottage cheese: "sugar can actually worsen muscle fatigue due to blood sugar spikes and crashes, inflammation, and depletion of essential nutrients needed for muscle function".
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This is the most useful thing Iโve read today. Thank you!
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Cake is always justified
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And don't forget the recycled air!
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A friend, avid museum goer, says 90 minutes in a museum is her max. That doesn't count the breaks in the cafe to refuel for the next bit. Her optimum schedule is 45 minutes, break for lunch, 20-30 minutes, stop for coffee, see if there's anything left of you. Most folks won't stop twice. I will.
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Oh ๐ฏ Thanks for this.
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Most intelligent justification of cake consumption that I have ever heard. Bravo!!
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omg
this explains why i always hurt after the mall too. i thought it was because every pair of shoes i ever owned were bad ๐ญ
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We call it 'ambleitis'
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Thatโs it, Iโm off to the museum!๐
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Helen is funny ๐...and cute ๐ ๐
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lol
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Itโs so true
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In breaking news, cake is justified by the existence of cake. Reports are now coming in regarding the state of coffeeโฆ
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The Minnesota state fair does that to you too. We call it the state fair shuffle and the next day is a doozy unless youโre in rip top physical form.
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They also have marble or granite floors which have no flexibility.
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We call it "museum leg" when you end up with aches and pains from - seemingly - walking no distance at all. Good to know that the nice cup of tea and a sit down is entirely merited.
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I mean, that's just science๐คท
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Hard ass floors too!
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Iโll remember this for next time Iโm flaggingโฆ ๐คฃ๐๐ป
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So true!!! I proctored a CPA exam (2 1/2 days). Walking slowly up and down rows of people seated and working on their test. I've walked dozens of marathons and none were are tiring at those GD CPA exams.
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We call it "museum fatigue". That combined with environmental controls can made a visit to a museum physically exhausting.
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Ah, man, I remember when they offered these enormous versions of the chocolate Hostess cupcakes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's cafeteria. So good!
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Iโll be sharing this post w my husband next time we go museum shuffling.
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also they have flat floors and we are probably evolutionarily made for walking on changing terrain where our muscles can adjust to changes and not be held in just one kind of walk, but with a totally flat floor then it is not changing.
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Iโm so glad itโs not just me! I find standing still at places like museums really tiring and my legs ache much more than if Iโve done a long walk! Now I m so why โบ๏ธ
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Ditto walking on wet/icy pavements.
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Thank you. That helps explain why I don't like going to museums. My wife is perplexed, "you're a musician and an aritst. What's the deal? Why don't you want to go?" I have to admit, even I don't know why. Museums are exhausting to me. That explains it some.
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I think you just invented a new fitness craze.
10 more years and the Uffizi will become Olympic.
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Makes sense. I use a crutch to walk, sometimes two. When people I'm with set a slow pace it's more tiring than trying to keep up with them. The frustration it causes is disempowering too. Can't be easy for them either, to gauge what speed to walk at and it must tire them more too.
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This is a post I didnโt know I needed. Thank you very much @helenczerski.bsky.social , donโt mind if I do.
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This needs to be a Ted talk.. perhaps adding how essential it is to consume liquid carbs (beer) after mowing the lawn?
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Doesn't this also apply to standing in front of your desk instead of sitting?
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When I finally admitted I was disabled and started using scooters and wheelchairs in museums, it rocked my world. All of a sudden, I could see everything I wanted to see without having it hurt for days.
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Itโs a lot to absorb in a slow period of time.
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Museums can be quite the energy drain. To witness all that pain and trauma. It's emotionally taxing. The first time I actually enjoyed the museum was at The Whitney this past summer. The art was playful and joyous. Can't recall a museum visit that energized me before that day.
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Brilliant.
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IKTR!!!
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Genius. I can peer review your paper if you like. I spend a lot of time in museums.
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๐ค .... grocery shopping, too!?
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Wow. This is true.
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I have been saying to my wife (foot shorter than me) for years that itโs more tiring to walk at her pace.
Finally vindicated!
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First question I ask when someone suggests going to a museum or gallery is โdoes it have a cafe?โ
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Why would you ever need a justification for cake?
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Thank you for this vital PSA.
