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Skyline in Rocky Mountain National Park, July 2020
It’s hard to beat the satisfaction of traveling on foot - settling into a steady rhythm, surrounded by incredible scenery, with the freedom to go when and where you please. It’s an endlessly rewarding - and sustainable - activity, and one that deserves to be experienced and celebrated.
10 Benefits of Outdoor Recreation and How Doing So Can Help Improve Your Mental Health
10 Benefits of Outdoor Recreation and How Doing So Can Help Improve Your Mental Health
Outdoor recreation offers numerous benefits, both for your physical well-being and mental health. Here are 10 key advantages of engaging in outdoor activities and how they contribute to improving mental health:
1. Reduces Stress
1. Reduces Stress
Benefit: Spending time outdoors, especially in natural settings like parks, forests, or beaches, can significantly reduce stress. Natural environments have a calming effect that helps lower cortisol levels, the hormone associated with stress.
Mental Health Impact: Lowering stress levels canprevent anxiety, mood swings, and help improve overall emotional well-being.
2. Improves Mood
2. Improves Mood
Benefit: Physical activities outdoors, such as hiking, cycling, or even walking, trigger the release of endorphins (the “feel good” hormones).
Mental Health Impact: These endorphins can help combat feelings of depression and sadness, leading to improved mood and emotional balance.
3. Boosts Self-Esteem
3. Boosts Self-Esteem
Benefit: Outdoor recreation often involves setting and achieving goals, whether it’s reaching the summit of a hill or completing a challenging outdoor activity.
Mental Health Impact: Achieving goals, big or small, can significantly boost self-confidence and self-worth, helping you feel more empowered and positive.
4. Encourages Social Interaction
4. Encourages Social Interaction
Benefit: Many outdoor activities, such as team sports, hiking groups, or outdoor yoga classes, provide opportunities for socializing and connecting with others.
Mental Health Impact: Socializing and building relationships can combat loneliness and isolation, which are key factors that contribute to depression and anxiety.
5. Improves Sleep
5. Improves Sleep
Benefit: Exposure to natural light and fresh air, coupled with physical activity, helps regulate your circadian rhythm and improve your sleep patterns.
Mental Health Impact: Better sleep leads to improved mood, cognitive function, and emotional regulation, reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression.
6. Enhances Cognitive Function
6. Enhances Cognitive Function
Benefit: Outdoor activities often engage the brain in problem-solving, focus, and memory. Nature-based experiences also promote cognitive clarity and creativity.
Mental Health Impact: Mental stimulation and outdoor exploration can improve concentration and prevent cognitive decline, enhancing overall mental wellness.
7. Encourages Mindfulness
7. Encourages Mindfulness
Benefit: Being in nature promotes mindfulness and allows you to immerse yourself in the present moment. Activities like nature walks or simply sitting by a lake help foster awareness of your surroundings and your thoughts.
Mental Health Impact: Practicing mindfulness can reduce symptoms of anxiety, help you manage stress, and improve your emotional resilience.
8. Promotes Physical Health
8. Promotes Physical Health
Benefit: Outdoor activities like hiking, swimming, or biking offer a full-body workout that improves cardiovascular health, boosts energy levels, and strengthens muscles.
Mental Health Impact: Physical health and mental health are deeply intertwined. Exercise in the outdoors improves physical well-being, which can alleviate mental health issues like depression and anxiety.
9. Provides a Sense of Achievement
9. Provides a Sense of Achievement
Benefit: Outdoor activities often involve overcoming challenges, whether it’s completing a tough trail, mastering a new skill, or exploring an unknown area.
Mental Health Impact: Accomplishing these challenges gives a sense of pride and fulfillment, helping combat feelings of helplessness and boost resilience against mental health challenges.
10. Fosters Connection to Nature
10. Fosters Connection to Nature
Benefit: Outdoor recreation helps you connect with nature and gain a deeper appreciation for the environment.
Mental Health Impact: This sense of connection can reduce feelings of disconnection, increase feelings of gratitude, and help create a sense of purpose, all of which contribute positively to mental health.
Incorporating outdoor recreation into your routine can play a vital role in enhancing both your physical and mental well-being. Whether you’re looking to reduce stress, improve sleep, or simply boost your mood, spending time in nature and staying active outdoors offers a holistic approach to improving mental health.
3 ways nature can improve your mental health
Boosts your mood
Studies show that within just the first five minutes of being outside, we experience a better mood.
Reduces stress
Spending twenty minutes in nature doing an activity, like hiking or walking, helps reduce stress.
Promotes better sleep
A quick walk outside is a great way to soak in extra Vitamin D from the sun, which improves your sleep at night.
Benefits of Adventures:
It leads to increased physical and psychological well-being.
It be therapeutic in coping with the suffering and strife of life.
It helps us confront and overcome fear and anxiety.
It provides a growing sense of self-reliance and confidence in our ability to adapt.
It allows us to connect with other people and share a sense of community within a common experience.
20 Benefits of Backpacking
Physical and Mental Health Benefits of Backpacking
It is widely known that hiking provides numerous physical and mental health benefits.
Spending time far away from civilization and hordes of people is a great way to unwind and unplug. Backpacking allows you time to relax and clear your mind, leaving behind everyday worries and stresses of your normal day-to-day life.
Backpacking is a great, natural way to help with a variety of mental health issues. Studies have shown that it helps in reducing anxiety and greatly improves the symptoms of depression. Needless to say, you can imagine how much good even an overnight backpacking trip can have on your state of mind! Spending extended periods in the great outdoors literally makes you happier.
Hiking also increases your sensory perception. Being away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life offers the chance to pay attention to things you might not normally. The birds chirping in the trees. The sound of the wind blowing across a field of dry grass. In other words, backpacking is a great way to remember to appreciate and enjoy the simple things in life, such as the changing leaves in autumn or the calming sound of a babbling brook.
It goes without saying that no matter how well a trip goes, there is always a sense of accomplishment after completing a trail, especially a challenging one you weren't sure you were capable of. Relying only on yourself (and perhaps a few close hiking buddies) miles out in the wilderness is a great confidence and self-esteem booster.
Backpacking and the benefits on your Mental Health
The physical benefits of a backpacking or hiking trip are hard to miss. It’s exhausting and incredible exercise to trudge uphill for a few miles.
Of course, we’re all familiar with the physical benefits of hiking, but we often overlook some of its mental help as well.
Most people like being outside in nature because it gives them a chance to stop and notice nature’s wonders. That excursion may leave you relaxed or joyful and studies can back up those feelings. Science has determined that hikers are generally happier and healthier than people who spend most of their time at home.
Backpacking in the outdoors not only helps with your self-esteem, but also helps lower stress and provide a feeling of overall wellness.
In fact, researchers have performed several tests on the impact of backpacking in nature (as opposed to backpacking in urban areas). From their studies, they found that nature hikes help you battle negative thoughts and feelings of low self-esteem.
Researchers also determined that backpacking has restorative powers to help reduce stress. Apparently, a backpacking trip through nature reserves, woodlands and urban parks has been scientifically proven to help you cope with life’s everyday challenges.
Other studies have also shown that even short hikes can improve your mental health. A hike that lasts over 90 minutes can lead to measurable changes to your brain, and may also help combat problems with depression.
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Much more coming soon!
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