Hiking is many people's favorite outdoor activity. It is a great way to spend time in the fresh air, with loved ones and physical activity that improves both mental and physical health.
Here are 10 reasons why you need to (start) hiking:
- Improves general fitness
Hiking is an excellent consumer of calories. In just an hour of intense hiking climb, you can spend up to 500 kcal. If you still carry a heavier backpack on your back, this figure can be even higher.
The base on hiking trails is always more comfortable and safer for joints than concrete or asphalt, and walking confirmed has a better and safer effect on the joints than running. Therefore, hiking is an activity that consumes calories and contributes to weight loss.
- You have control over your activity yourself
If you are hiking alone or with friends, you do not have in front of you a strict trainer who will tamp down the pace and determine in what time you have to reach the finish line. Therefore, hiking is an ideal physical activity in which you choose how long you will hike, whether you will climb to the top or not, how often you will rest along the way and finally, how often you will go to the mountains.
- Tones the whole body
Usually walking contributes to the form, but when you add to that the slope you have on the mountain, the use of hiking rods that make us lean forward, and climbing rocks with the help of ropes, this is an activity in which you will activate the whole body.
In more detail, hiking is an activity that will include your quadriceps, thigh,thigh muscles and gluteus.
- Helps prevent and control diabetes
Regular hiking helps control but even prevent diabetes, by lowering blood sugar levels. Hiking activates muscles, and they, in simple terms, use glucose from the bloodstream for energy and thus lower its blood levels.
- Lowers blood pressure and cholesterol
Regular hiking affects the lowering of blood pressure and cholesterol, thereby lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and infarction, in the most vulnerable groups. Even descending from the mountain is doubly effective: in lowering blood sugar levels and improving glucose tolerance.
- Hiking as a medicine
Some studies show that the health benefits of hiking significantly outweigh only cardiovascular health and go as far as helping people with cancer recover.
A study published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine showed that long-distance hiking can improve antioxidant capacity that helps fight disease in oncology patients.
- Hiking has a strong social component
Hiking almost always involves society, regardless of whether it is hiking in pairs or joining some mountaineering society and hiking in organized groups. The existence of a larger network of people hiking is motivating and encouraging, but also increases safety in case of accidents on the mountain.
Members of mountaineering communities usually develop their hiking lifestyle, from buying equipment, sharing route tips to helping beginners.
- Hiking has a strong social component
Hiking almost always involves society, regardless of whether it is hiking in pairs or joining some mountaineering society and hiking in organized groups. The existence of a larger network of people hiking is motivating and encouraging, but also increases safety in case of accidents on the mountain.
Members of mountaineering communities usually develop their hiking lifestyle, from buying equipment, sharing route tips to helping beginners.
- Increases creativity
Studies have shown that spending time in nature improves concentration and focus and raises the ability to solve problems creatively by as much as 50%. In addition, studies show that spending time in nature, without constant contact with technology, has a significant impact on improving mood, self-confidence and creativity.
- Increases happiness levels and cures depression
Studies show that hiking is an excellent additional therapy that helps people with severe depressions. Hiking is a way of moving that gives people prone to depression a guideline on how to lead a more active, happy and satisfied life.
- Bonds with nature
Staying in nature, away from the chaos of everyday life, technology and urban environments, allows people to bond with themselves and nature, which ensures a kind of inner peace and satisfaction with themselves.
Therefore, if you have not done hiking before, it is high time to go. Incorporate hiking into your rhythm of life and take time for the forest and mountain on weekends. We guarantee you will come back happy and satisfied. And you'll plan where to go next.
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