Pacing is definitely good for regulating your thoughts. I like to pace when reasoning through a difficult problem, and it also helps relieve some anxiety.

Speaking of anxiety, watching me pace makes my wife anxious. I understand that, sometimes pacing comes from a place of distress. Other times it’s just a way of keeping the body active while the mind is busy. It’s often subconscious, but when I catch myself doing it, I’ll try to pace in another room so I don’t bother anyone.

I remember visiting a really shitty zoo when I was a kid. There was an exhibit with a leopard who spent the whole time pacing along one side of their enclosure. There was a rut worn into the ground that must have been a few inches deep where it passed. I wonder how many thousand times it made the trip from one side to the other - it wasn’t very far. That makes me anxious.