Hiking Trails Can Improve Your Health
You can probably guess that hiking is good for your health. But are you aware of how beneficial it actually is for you? Living near hiking trails is a boon to the health and happiness of you and your family. Here are all the ways that hiking is great for your health – a few may surprise you!
Side Effects Of Hiking
Regular aerobic exercise, such as hiking, can help adults:
- Improve the fitness of the lungs, heart, and blood vessels
- Increase muscular fitness
- Reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke
- Reduce the risk of diabetes and high blood pressure
- Reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels
- Reduce the risk of certain cancers, such as breast and colon cancer
- Increase bone density
- Reduced depression
- Improve the quality of sleep
- Reduce the risk of early death
- Help support a healthy weight
Hiking trails are also beneficial for kids. They can:
- Improve their overall fitness
- Increase their bone health
- Reduce chance of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and high blood pressure
- Sleep better at night
When you use hiking trails near your home, you’re working every part of your body! Hiking is known to exercise the knees, legs, ankles, hips, and arms. Plus, it’s good for your mind. It helps you use your senses and experience the world around you. It can spur imagination in your whole family!
How Often Should You Hike?
To reap the benefits of hiking trails, you need to use them regularly. Most experts suggest being active for 150 minutes per week. This includes things such as moderate intensity exercise such as brisk walking or hiking. That translates to two and a half hours each week – which is time you can spend with your family, familiarizing yourself with your community as you work to improve your health! You can break it down into more manageable chunks throughout the week. Go for a 30-minute hike before or after dinner and it’ll add up quick.
So what makes exercise moderate? You can judge it by your ability to talk while doing it. If you’re at a moderate pace you will be able to talk to the people you’re with, but you can’t sing. By comparison, a vigorous activity level would leave you unable to talk without pausing to breathe. Moderate exercise enables you to breathe rhythmically and continue on for a while.
Start Using Hiking Trails Today
The community you live in has them, so why not use them? If you’re intimidated because it’s been awhile since you got regular exercise, you shouldn’t! Hiking is a great activity to start, no matter what shape you’re in. You just need to remember to pace yourself to avoid injury. If you’re over 35 and it’s been a few years since you were active, then check with your doctor before starting.
Hiking trails are one of the perks of the community you’re living in, so get out of the house and use them to improve your health and to spend time with your family!