The walk in nature is the best way to keep fit: there are 14 reasons to go hiking it’s better than running and the gym and improves you in body and mind. How much? 1000 km per year.
Before Covid-19, the popularity of hiking was on the decline in both adults and children, but its popularity has increased during the pandemic, only escape route and salvation to maintain physical and mental health. A article that appeared in The Conversation by university researcher Lindsay Bottoms explains that walking is exactly what we need for our psychological as well as physical well-being. From a scientific point of view. And that a goal could be to walk precisely for thousand kilometers a year.
Nature walk: hiking 1000 km a year keeps body and mind healthy
Excursions, hiking or walking that takes place over the course of a day are the same thing called in different ways, unlike trekking which always indicates the same gesture but over several days.
Ma l’hiking si distingue dal walking, it’s not an ordinary walk in our neighborhood. Change the terrain (which in hiking is natural and uneven). Change shoes (trekking or hiking), clothing and equipment (poles).E cchange energy expenditure, which is greater in hiking: more calories are burned than walking on flat ground. That’s exactly the point: in hiking, walking in nature, we use more muscles to stabilize ourselves, due to uneven terrain.
14 reasons why hiking is better than running and the gym
Science tells us that walking briskly at a speed of about 5 km/h allows us to use up to four times more energy than when we are sitting or lying down, but walking on paths, fields and hills it makes us consume 5 times more energy.
And if you’re looking for something to help maintain the average of 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity recommended by WHO and other health agencies, hiking is perfect. it doesn’t make it necessary to go for a run or fitness at the gym.
That’s why walking, as we have already said, is the best medicine in the world.
Even hiking in the woods behind the house, every day or at least 3 times a week, means getting a priceless series of benefits, with all-round improvements:
1. Better physical health
3. Better stress management
4. Less risk of chronic diseases, such as dementia, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease
5. Less risk of depression
6. Less risk of cancer
7. Improvements in blood pressure and contrast hypertension
8. Healthier feet: if you have pain and use the right shoes, walking ‘puts your feet right’
9. Weight loss
10. Improved muscle strength
11. Greater flexibility and balance
12. Posture correction
13. Upper body development (with trekking poles)
14. Mood improvements from walking in nature
How many times to go for walks a week
Going outside to walk, in short, is a natural medicine without equal. To do this, apps, friends with whom to share hiking and even a simple goal to give us at the beginning of the year can help us: travel 1000 km.
In reality, the article speaks of a thousand miles, or 1600 km, but we can also give ourselves this symbolic goal of a thousand kilometers, the conversion of the units of measurement is not so important.
Over the course of the 52 weeks it is about doing 3 or 4 weekly outings of about 60-90 minutes
Hiking is a great way to be active and improve mental and physical well-being. And if you’re spending the summer 2021 holidays close to home, it can be the best idea to get away from home and explore new places.
[Photo by cottonbro from Pexels]
Here are some ideas for easy routes for everyone, long or short, close to cities or away from it all.
Advertising