For this week I didn’t have the time to go on a hike, but I decided to research the benefits to hiking. While looking into this there were lots of great websites that provided lots of benefits to hiking. The one that stood out to me was done by Cleveland Clinic, https://health.clevelandclinic.org/9-benefits-of-hiking. This stood out to me because it wasn’t just a list of benefits, each benefit had a description of what it means. They provided 9 benefits and I chose 3 to talk about in this weeks reflection.
The first one I looked at was the benefit hiking has on lowering blood pressure. High blood pressure is something that is hard to identify but people can prevent it by staying active. Keeping the body moving keeps the blood flowing and constant temperature regulation.
The second one I looked at was the benefit hiking has on reducing anxiety and depression. When the body starts moving it releases endorphins which increases the bodies sensitivity to serotonin and norepinephrine, this reduces the feelings of depression. Being outside in nature also the body and mind when you interact in fresh air.
The last benefit that I looked at was how hiking improves sleep. A big thing that hiking does to help people sleep is getting you outside so that you can capture vitamin D. Getting the body moving will increase the bodies temperature so when your internal temperature decreases it will be easier to fall asleep.