How Hiking Supports Emotional Wellbeing
Give a boost to your mental health with time spent outdoors.
Right now, for many, we are in a season of uncertainty. With lost jobs, kids at home, and lack of social interaction, many of us feel mentally and emotionally strained. There is, however, one haven to help those who are suffering from the many struggles that 2020 has brought us. This haven is time spent outdoors.
Many different studies led to the myriad of benefits that time spent outdoors brings. Harvard Medical School lists exercise, happiness, and overall health improved with time spent in an outdoor setting.
As an outdoor enthusiast myself — I enjoy many different recreation activities. However, I would have to say one of my favorite activities is just going on a hike. Hiking is physically and emotionally stimulating. It brings inner peace and better connects me to nature.
The other great thing about hiking is also its simplicity. Hiking doesn’t require any special skills or even lots of expensive gear depending on where you are going. The real essentials for going on a good hike include items you likely already have at home: backpack, water bottle, and shoes. Hiking trails can be found in almost any city or rural area around the world, making them easily accessible to most individuals.
Its ease of access and simplicity make hiking the perfect activity for anybody looking to benefit from time outside. Here’s how hiking can support your emotional wellbeing even during these turbulent times.
It puts you in a better mood.
I can think of a handful of times when I woke up early to go on a hike. It is the weekend and wanting to sleep in; I will admit sometimes I’m not in the best of moods. My mood, of course, all instantly changes as soon as I get on the trail. Even jumping into my car to drive to a nearby trailhead gets me excited, thrilled, and ready for adventure. It instantaneously transforms my mood.
Once out on the trail, it’s hard to be upset or miserable when surrounded by green foliage, fresh air, and picturesque views. Even if you’re out of shape and struggling to catch your breath up a mountain, you can readily appreciate the viewpoints of the place you hike.
Just having natural scenes helps enhance our mental wellbeing and moods. According to a study by the University of Delaware, the kind of view you received outside a hospital window affected patient recovery. The patients who had a view of the outside gave fewer negative comments and even had shorter hospital stays according to nurses’ notes. It’s evident that just being able to see outside from a square window has clear impacts on mood and overall health, so imagine what it can do if you surround yourself in it while on a hike.
It reduces stress and rumination.
The times we are in are stressful for everyone. It can be effortless to drain yourself emotionally through rumination, which is the act of repeatedly thinking the same negative thoughts.
For me, being at home can be stressful at times. I’ve found that both my wife and I get in these pernicious habits of ruminating on problems in life. When cooped up inside, it easy to develop a pattern of destructive thought processes. This rumination all changes when we go outside on a hike. The natural stimuli of birds, plants, and butterflies shift our minds away from the negative and stressful thoughts. It makes us realize there is so much more around us to love, appreciate, and endure, that the stresses in life quickly vanish.
Many studies link time outside to less stress and rumination. One study from the Netherlands found that green space acted as a buffer between stressful life events and health. Those who had a green space within a 3km radius were less impacted by stressful life and health events than those without green space. Another study from researchers out of Stanford University found that taking a 90-minute walk outside reduced rumination and neural activity in the area of the brain that linked to mental illness. These studies and many more point towards the importance hiking can have for our overall mental health.
It gives you a sense of accomplishment and self-motivation.
I’ve gone on many hikes in my life: some short, some all-day-long ones. The walks where I had a goal or objective to conquer a peak or new terrain were some of the most personally fulfilling and rewarding hikes. The first mountain I ever hiked up was New Hampshire’s, Mount Major. The mountain sits at only a 1,785' elevation, which is considered an easy foothill for advanced hikers and mountaineers. However, being so new to the sport of hiking, the immense sense of pride and accomplishment I got from summiting my first peak has since been unmatched. I pushed myself to the top. In turn, the hike boosted my self-motivation and confidence in my abilities.
Many others who spend time hiking feel the same sense of accomplishment and motivation that I’ve experienced. Eli Vega is a photographer, writer, and philosopher who has hiked many of Colorado’s 14,000' peaks dubbed “fourteeners.” Of all Eli’s life achievements, climbing Colorado’s fourteeners are his proudest ones.
“I felt so free during my hikes, knowing that I was doing something I wanted to do. It wasn’t forced upon me. Nobody challenged me. Nobody told me I had or should do it. What I did for myself gave me a great sense of personal freedom. I felt ethereal.”
That sense of freedom and beauty comes from the grueling nature we put ourselves through when we venture out on a challenging hike. When you try to accomplish a difficult goal or task, you learn your body’s physical and mental capabilities. For many, hiking can be the challenge that we need to feel that sense of accomplishment that can be both fulfilling and life-changing.
These are just some of the few benefits we receive when we lace up our shoes and hit the trail. There are many more emotional and mental benefits towards hiking, and the outdoors, in general, that would take a whole book to write them all down.
The best thing about hiking is that it is something we can so easily access and accomplish. If 2020 is a year to start a more beneficial hobby, let hiking become that hobby. The sense of happiness and joy hiking can bring very quickly becomes an addiction. I’d argue that this is one addiction worth cultivating.
