The Incredible Benefits of Outdoor Exercise
On a beautiful, 72-degree day, nothing feels better than putting on your shoes. However, did you realize that the “boost” you get when you go outdoors has scientific roots? Exercise’s effects have been researched for a long time. It has gained increasing significance in recent decades as more nations have urbanized, leaving fewer natural areas, and as there is a tendency toward a decline in people’s physical activity.
Why Being Outside Makes Us Feel Better
There are several advantages to outdoor exercise that cannot be duplicated inside. Sunlight exposure, for instance, promotes the synthesis of vitamin D. Because it helps drive calcium into our bones, prevents cramps and muscular spasms, aids in glucose metabolism, lowers inflammation, encourages cell development, and more, vitamin D is essential for healthy bones.
In addition to vitamin D, research on outdoor exercise has shown the following:
- When exercising outdoors, blood pressure returns to baseline more quickly.
- Taking in the outdoors has a beneficial effect on mental stress recovery.
- Anger, sadness, anxiety, and rumination—the state in which you get mired in a thought pattern or worry—are all lessened by being outside.
- Engaging in outdoor exercise improves sleep quality, happiness, prosocial behavior, social relationships, and overall health perception.
- Clinically, those who spent more time outside had lower resting heart rates, better immunological function, less vitamin D insufficiency, and lower blood pressure.
- Researchers have also looked at the effects of outdoor exercise on your bones and found comparable results when comparing jogging on a treadmill versus running on the street.
- People were observed to exert greater effort while they were outside, which is believed to be related to the visual input.
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Better for the Whole Family
We all know that being outdoors improves your mood, and a happy mom makes the home a pleasant place. We also know that children’s activity patterns and attitudes toward exercise are strongly influenced by the physical activity practices of their parents. Therefore, your children are more likely to want to and enjoy being outdoors if you spend more time outside.
Our happiness and sense of self-worth improve the more time we spend in green areas, particularly as children. It has also been shown that individuals who walk outdoors throughout the workday return to their activities with more energy. Although the research hasn’t been conducted, it makes sense to assume that youngsters would have a bit more energy to do their schoolwork or go to gymnastics after school if they received some fresh air.
In the Moms Into Fitness Studio, we include running or walking with our weekly schedule. >> You have the strategy spelled out for you!
Step Outside, but Prepare Yourself
Even if it’s simple to go outdoors, you need to think about the weather, being hydrated, and your safety. Be mindful of your surroundings, start hydrated, and layer accordingly. Lastly, savor and absorb that vitamin D!