Practicing hiking provides us with benefits both physically and psychologically, so we should do it frequently to take care of our general health.
Maybe you don’t know what hiking is or it’s the first time you’ve heard of it. Hiking is nothing more than a non-competitive sports practice that consists of touring mountainous areas. Today we are going to discover some of the benefits of hiking and the reasons why we should all do it sometime.
Hiking is a light way to do physical exercise while enjoying contact with nature. It is a practice suitable for any age and it is not necessary to be in excellent physical shape. With all this, let’s look at some of the incredible benefits of hiking.
Hiking improves our cardiovascular health
Hiking prevents us from becoming sedentary people who do not carry out any type of physical exercise, something that has dire consequences. Lack of activity is detrimental to our health, especially cardiovascular. If, at least, we do this sporting activity once a week or two, we will already be taking advantage of the benefits of hiking.
As we persevere in this activity, we will notice how we will have more resistance, in addition to which our body will oxygenate itself better. Thanks to hiking, our lung capacity increases and our hearts become stronger. This will help prevent future diseases related to the cardiovascular system and also the respiratory system.
Increase our self-esteem
Another benefit of hiking is that it helps us increase our self-esteem. If we are going through a bad time or an experience has caused our self-esteem to be at a minimum, hiking can help us with this.
The simple fact of doing some exercise already increases our self-esteem. Not only because we will look better physically, but because we will feel better. Also, by exercising we release endorphins, the hormones of happiness. So when we are sick, it is recommended that we exercise.
Now, this is not all. The increase in self-esteem can also be obtained from contact with nature, something that is always very therapeutic. Discovering new routes and finding different landscapes can help us more than we can think.
It allows us to make new friends
Perhaps we have never considered it, but in some areas there are hiking groups in which we can do this practice with other people. However, this is not necessary. When making a hiking route we will meet people who are fond of this exercise with whom, perhaps, we can make a friendship.
If we need to get out of our comfort zone or meet other people, this is an excellent activity. Let’s find out if there are groups in our city to carry out this practice or let’s venture to go by ourselves. Surely, even if we go alone, at some point we will return accompanied.
Increase our bone density
One of the benefits of hiking, like any other similar physical activity, is that it increases our bone density. Well, when we exercise, not only our muscles or our figure benefit from it. So do our bones.
From the age of 40, we are at a higher risk of suffering osteoporosis. This risk is further increased in women. Therefore, if we want to prevent it, we can start hiking right away. The sooner we start to practice this activity, the sooner we will benefit from all the good that it can bring us.
It helps us fight insomnia
If we have trouble sleeping, either due to the summer heat or because we are very stressed, hiking will help us improve our sleep quality. The reason is that any physical activity helps us to release stress and relaxes us, thus enabling us to sleep better.
As we have said, it does not take great skills to get the full benefits of hiking. It only takes desire and predisposition to carry out this activity, at least once or twice a week. With an hour or two it is enough to be able to take advantage of this sports practice.
The weekend is an excellent time to go hiking and discover new routes and new people. There are many places, even in our city, that we surely don’t know yet. What are you waiting for to put on your backpack and start taking advantage of all the benefits of hiking?