Let's explore hiking in more depth!

Hiking is the most exciting and gratifying outdoor activity which does not only revolves around walking or climbing a mountain. Beyond being an incredible hobby where hikers are usually in complete admiration with the absolute beauty and panoramic view of the nature around them, hiking is also an activity which provides various health and well-being benefits and encourage social contact among people.

Image from Peter Conlan from Unsplash.

According to Mitten et al. (2016), hiking “promotes wellness and health in both a preventive and curative manner” and motivates “people to be physically active while spending time in nature” (p. 302). In today’s world, it is not a secret that most people have a sedentary and indoor-centered lifestyle and being physically active in both the professional life and the personal life is quite difficult. What people should understand is that this way of living is literally killing their health and resulting in serious illness which lead to a shorter lifespan. As Mitten et al. (2016) also stated, “an estimated 5.3 million premature deaths per year worldwide are attributed to physically inactive lifestyles…and hiking is one way to address inactivity and resulting illness” (p. 303).

Moreover, hiking elevates all the human senses in nature to make hikers feel alive and active. For people who reside in urbanized areas, being constantly surrounded by buildings and pollution with the lack of green spaces and fresh air can negatively affect their health and well-being. Therefore, hiking is not only about doing a physical activity in nature, the “green spaces provide a significant opportunity for people to escape their regular lives, daily routines and stressful environment to re-energize and engage in outdoor activities” (Bedimo-Rung et al., 2005, as cited in Wolf & Wohlfart, 2014, p. 89) thus increasing positively their physical and mental state.

Hiking is also considered as a social activity where people meet and socialize with each other (Carter and Horwitz, 2014). We live in a society where people are constantly on their mobile phones rather than interacting with each other and spending time with their family. Therefore, hiking provide an opportunity for them to meet like-minded people and as Baklien et al. (2016) said, spending time with the family by doing a hiking excursion is “a way to isolate a space within everyday life to cultivate the family as a social institution by strengthening the relations between family members as a group” (p. 44).

These are reasons why people should at least once in their life experience a hiking trail while taking advantage of all the benefits and who knows become nature lovers at the end.

So, when will be your first hiking trail?

Reference List

Baklien, B., Ytterhus, B., & Bongaardt, R. (2016). When everyday life becomes a storm on the horizon: families’ experiences of good mental health while hiking in nature. Anthropology & Medicine, 23(1), 42-53. https://doi-org.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/10.1080/13648470.2015.1056056

Carter, M., & Horwitz, P. (2014). Beyond Proximity: The importance of green spaces

useability to self-reported health. Eco-Health, 11(3), 322-332. https://search-proquest-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/docview/1548382576?OpenUrlRefId=info:xri/sid:primo&accountid=10382

Mitten, D., Overholt, J. R., Haynes, F., D’Amore, C. C., & Ady, J. C. (2016). Hiking: A low-cost, accessible intervention to promote health benefits. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 12(4), 302-310. https://doi-org.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/10.1177/1559827616658229

Wolf, I. D., & Wohlfart, T. (2014, July). Walking, hiking and running in parks: A

multidisciplinary assessment of health and well-being benefits. Landscape and urban planning, 89-103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.06.006

Credit

The image used has been retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/LEgwEaBVGMo