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How Adventurous And Outdoor Sports Affects Our Health

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In today’s modern, people, unfortunately, spend more and more time indoors. This is one of the biggest factors contributing to the current obesity epidemic in the world. The solution to this issue could be as simple as spending more time outdoors. There are numerous health benefits of solely spending time outdoors, let alone including the workouts while walking around the park. Below is a list of the ways outdoor activities positively affect our health.

Improves Mental Wellbeing

The awareness that your mind has throughout the exercise regarding the changing terrain and weather is the main reason for this. When working out outdoor, your mind is forced to be focused and alert at all times. That alone is highly beneficial to mental wellbeing.  After a long day, week, or month at work we all need a way to unwind, and outdoor physical activities may be the best option. And with increasing the intensity of the workout, the health benefits rise too.

Reduces Stress

The stress reduction effect of outdoor activities is measured usually by the levels of cortisol in your body. Cortisol is a hormone that indicates the stress level in humans. It is shown that even lighter activities like walking around the forest and camping in the woods, lower the level of this hormone greatly. It is also proven that people who spend more time in nature have a better heart rate than those who spend hours and days sitting in front of screens.

Reduces Anxiety

In addition to reducing stress, these activities reduce symptoms of anxiety too. Keeping your body busy in such calm natural surroundings is proven to be highly beneficial to calming down an anxious mind. Everyone who ever experienced anxiety attacks can understand how it feels, and how hard it is to shake it off. Only being connected to nature, showed so much health benefits, that the people started painting trees and flowers inside their offices. That too was proven to be quite effective.

Best Way To Get Enough Vitamin D

For your bones and blood cells to be healthy, your body needs a lot of calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D. Working out under the sunlight at least 5-15 minutes once every two days give your body all the Vitamin D it needs.

As professionals from SouthernMan.com.au suggest, sports like surfing are highly recommended for this particular reason. Other outdoor activities that ensuring your optimal vitamin D absorption include beach volleyball, swimming, kayaking, etc. It’s up to you only to choose the one that fits your preferences and invite your people to join you.

Improves The Quality Of Your Sleep

Every person on the planet has their internal clock and their sleep is dependent on it. This clock works right only when the cells in your eyes get enough sunlight during the day, especially before mid-day. This is one reason why you need to make sure to spend as many hours as possible outside, mostly in the morning hours. Additionally, tiring out your body by exercising naturally improves the quality and the quantity of sleep. You know what people tend to say after a good workout – now I’m going to sleep like a baby.

Boost Self-Esteem

Your self-esteem tends to increase exponentially when you spend some time with friends and engaging in different outdoor activities. Even dog walking and being surrounded by animals have the same effect. It is even stronger when if these activities are done near water, green areas, and by the sounds of nature such as waves and waterfalls. Playing with paintball and laser guns is another worthy outdoor activity as it gives you a renewed sense of accomplishment, which is a major confidence boost. If you ever trained continuously at some point in your life, it will be enough to say “Remember how you felt than”.

Helps With Weight Loss

Needless to explain that any physical activity eventually leads to weight loss. However, the fact that outdoor activities usually include water sports during summer, it is understandable that you will be burning much more calories this way. Coupled with the fact that better sleep facilitates faster weight loss, (and the outdoor activities improve sleep) the role of outdoor time in your physical fitness can never be underestimated. Even if you don’t engage in stronger physical activities outside than just walking, it still contributes to burning calories more than you might think. 

If you are a hard-working citizen, you probably spend the majority of the day indoors usually in front of a computer and under artificial lights. From what we stated above, it is more than clear that it’s’ in your best interest to quit this kind of lifestyle if possible. If not, then at least give yourself a break regularly to enjoy the benefits of outdoor adventures.  Both your mind and your body will be thankful.

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