Hiking is a great outdoor activity to connect with nature and has some notable physical, mental and social benefits. Going on a hike can give you a sense of adventure and also improve your mood.
In this article, you will learn about the different benefits hiking has to offer in terms of physical benefits, mental health benefits and social benefits.
It’s found that hiking in a natural environment is more beneficial than a random walk in the city.
1. Hiking helps you lose weight
Our modern lifestyle habits result in reduced physical activity and a sedentary lifestyle for a large segment of the population. With fewer daily physical activities than recommended, it becomes difficult to maintain or lose weight, especially given the global rise in the consumption of fast food and highly processed foods.
One of the basic physical health benefits of hiking is burning off unused calories, which can help manage a healthy body weight and promote weight loss.
Going for a hike can help you to live a more active lifestyle and can help you to keep your weight in check.
2. Can improve your physical strength
Your strength becomes low when you are not doing physical activities daily.
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Having low body strength can make it difficult to complete daily life tasks (like moving a box) with ease.
Going hiking more often can lead to an increase in your body stamina and strength.
3. Good for your brain
Another benefit of hiking is – it’s good for your mind.
Seeing all the beautiful landscapes during your hike and passing through them can help your brain relax.
Suggested reading: Benefits of spending time in nature
4. Hiking helps you connect with nature
We can learn a lot of things from nature.
From time to time, scientists proven many health benefits of spending time in nature.
It’s obvious that during hiking, you will be in contact with fewer pollutants than usual because of the greenery. Also, you can benefit from the presence of phytoncides ( Phytoncides are airborne chemicals that plants emit to protect themselves from rooting and forest insects. Scientists have found that this phytoncide also benefits humans.)
5. Hiking helps you tone your muscles
When you go hiking, you pass through different types of landscapes. Plain surface, moderately stiff, stiff and sometimes you have to climb some small rock surface or a fallen tree trunk.
While you are passing through all those things, various muscle groups in your body get engaged. This way, hiking can help you tone your body as a result of different body movements normally done in a hiking trail.
6. Helps to prevent and control diabetes
Hiking can help prevent and control diabetes.
Hiking involves physical activity and utilises stored energy and glucose from our bodies, which can help prevent diabetes. However, other factors also play a role, and results can vary from person to person.
Hiking or walking for 30 minutes to an hour can help control blood sugar levels. But need to do this outdoor activity more often.
Estimated Calories Burned Per Hour (60 kg or 132.2 pounds Body Weight)
| Hiking Condition | Calories Burned per Hour |
|---|---|
| Flat or mild terrain | 378–441 |
| With a rucksack (backpack) | 441 |
| Steeper terrain (6–15% grade) | ~440 |
7. Makes you happier and can help lower your stress levels
One of the mental health benefits of hiking is that it can uplift your mood.
Hiking helps to live an active lifestyle. By engaging yourself in outdoor activities like hiking, you are meeting new people, observing nature and doing physical activity. Which is helpful for avoiding depression and lowering stress. So, hiking can make you happier.
8. You start becoming creative
One scientific study1 found in their study that spending time outdoors and working from an open space can boost one’s creativity level by up to 50 per cent.
By avoiding a few hours in front of the screen, you can become more creative.
9. Hiking can help lower blood pressure and sugar levels
Walking helps you improve blood flow in your body. Hiking daily can help you lower your blood pressure and sugar level.
10. Helpful to prevent heart disease
Like every other physical exercise, hiking has cardiovascular benefits, too. Which may help prevent heart disease.
11. Good for your bones and joints
Hiking a few times a month can improve your bone and joint health. It can give you better results if you pair it with a healthy, balanced diet.
Hiking involves walking and jogging. From time to time, the landscape also changes. Sometimes it’s plain, and sometimes it’s stiff. Thus, it increases beneficial stress on your bones and improves your bone health.
12. Can improve your social connections
Hiking is an adventurous outdoor activity. There are many chances that you might find some cool people along the way. It’s good for your social life, and you can find a new friend. Thus, going on a hike can help you build new social connections and improve your social presence.
Also, when you are hiking and exploring nature, you might discover something extremely beautiful landmark like a new waterfall (if you go for hiking is small hills.)
13. Can boost your vitamin D levels
As hiking is an outdoor activity and most often you have a clear sky which can help you get exposure to sunlight. When a person spend time under sunlight it results in improvement in theirs vitamin D levels.
So, there you have it. Do these benefits of hiking make you excited for your next hike? I hope it does. Hiking can be good for strength building, improving your cardiovascular health, caloric expenditure and building endurance. Have a hiking trail near you? Go for a hike.
You can also check – benefits of spending time in nature.
Sources & footnotes
- titled Creativity in the Wild: Improving Creative Reasoning through Immersion in Natural Settings ↩︎
