The Benefits of Hiking

Hiking and being out in nature is tremendous for our bodies, a great mood booster, invigorating for our minds and can help to enhance our relationships with people.

Why is hiking good for you?

Hiking is a unique experience where you become absorbed in the environment and your current surroundings. You’re exposed to nature in its truest form.

Many studies have shown that hiking is great for the heart. This activity is a great form of low impact cardiovascular exercise and can improve our overall mental health. This is especially true if you are self-isolating and live on your own and away from friends and family.

Below are some of the benefits that you can get from hiking:

You can do hiking all year round.

Depending on where you live, hiking can be done in the countryside, coastal areas, or anywhere that has some natural rural terrain. You can go through fields, woodland areas, forests, hills, near rivers and practically anywhere that’s out in nature.

The beauty of hiking in all seasons is you can experience breath-taking views as the season’s change.

In the Spring, you’ll experience nature waking up from a long winter and flowers starting to appear in bloom. You’ll experience that trees are beginning to grow their leaves and the natural world coming to life.

During the Summer, wildlife and nature will be in its prime. Where the flowers, trees, leaves and gardens are full of colour and blossom.

Autumn brings beautiful contrasts of colour. The ground is highlighted with shades of yellows, reds, purples, oranges and brown from the leaves.

Finally, you can be hiking or walking in the winter. Although it can be very cold, you will experience “crunch-sounding” frost-covered grass as you walk. There’s beautiful scenery with unique sunrises and sunsets encapsulated by the cold winter sky. A sunny winter day is even more special for hiking. If the weather conditions are right, it’s well worth getting out in the wilderness.

Hiking allows you to experience wildlife.

Depending on where you live in the world, in particular the northern hemisphere, you may see squirrels jumping from trees, birds of prey hunting and hovering for their next meal, or if you’re fortunate a pack of deer running through the fields.
Always keep your eyes peeled because you never know what you’ll experience when you’re outdoors.

Often, it pays to have a GoPro or some type of recording device when you’re hiking. If you’re interested in seeing wildlife, we’re often unprepared to take photography most of the time. The time you’ve got your camera out you’ve missed a great opportunity, such as a squirrel jumping from a tree or a hawk in flight. If you’re into wildlife photography, you’ll witness so much from hiking.

Hiking is an excellent form of escapism

As humans, we’re not built to be sat in front of a computer screen all day. We’re built to be moving around and doing things like our ancestors did. Unfortunately, a sedentary lifestyle slows down our metabolism and isn’t good for our overall health.

Ideally, we need to walk as much as possible, and hiking allows us to escape the modern-day world and get back to nature. If you’re fortunate enough to live in the countryside, you’ll benefit from getting the fresh air, and exposure of “vitamin D” which is even more essential during the winter months.

Being outdoors helps improve our mood, concentration levels, sharpen our minds, become more creative, and forget about the everyday stresses that we may be carrying around.

Being outdoors and in nature allows us to live in the moment. As humans, it can be difficult to live in the present, we’re often programmed to think about what we need to do, such as meeting our obligations and paying our bills.

Just being in the present moment is one of the most liberating things that you can do. Getting a change of scenery can help to realise what is important to us.