Welcome to our story on the benefits of walking and hiking. To walk is probably one of the most under rated yet incredibly simple ways we can move our bodies. It can be done in many ways and in lots of different environments – on the streets around your house, at the beach, beside the river, while doing your errands, as a means of active transport.
Walking offers us so much in terms of its benefits and how easy it is to achieve and add into our lives. Let us take a closer look at the beauty and benefits of walking and hiking!
LiveLifeMove – The Benefits of Walking & Hiking
What will Walking Give You?
A simple yet rewarding way to add movement into your life. Walking gives us all the usual benefits of movement including better physical health. It is a weight bearing activity and offers a variety of your joints a good range of motion – shoulders from arm swing, lower back, hips, knee, ankle and toe joints from leg swing.
One of the great benefits of walking is the mental health aspect. From a simple 10 to 20 minute walk you can expect to boost your mood, lower your anxiety or stress and be more mentally alert.
We highly recommend adding walking to your daily schedule and this can be done in so many ways even when you are busy and perceive to have no time. The benfits from walking are accumulative so if you don’t have a spare hour choose to walk for 10mins, several times a day. Choose to walk whenever you can, try walking to work or for errands, park the car further away from your destinations and walk, take the stairs not the lift, walk to meetings or appointments or choose some great places to walk to – the beach, along the river, through a park.
What you need for Walking
One of the great things about walking is how little you need to do it. Some comfortable and flattering clothes that you enjoy wearing and shoes or no shoes. It depends on where you are going and what you want to gain from your walk.
What will Hiking Give You?
When does walking become hiking? Hiking is just a more planned type of walking, that will require slightly more fitness and is usually done over a longer time period and in nature, but is still achieved within a day, on a specific trail or to a specific destination/view.
For hiking to be safe we usually carry some things. Adding weight in the form of a back pack immediately engages your core and glutes giving you an increased work out from your walking. Distance will increase cardiovascular health and fitness. The effect on mental health and well-being is considerable, being away from urban spaces and connected to nature when hiking truely replenishes your mind.
We must also consider the importance of nature – natural light, temperature variance, distance for your eyes, sounds we hear, things we feel on our skin, biochemistry and micro-organisms we interact with, the non-conformity, lumps and bumps of it – when compared to being inside or being in a built up concrete environment.
So although the movement is very similar to walking there is an increased need for balance on uneven terrain. Your body will move in a more dynamic way, rather than the very repetitive front to back swinging of walking, a hiking trail will move your joints through more range including some sideways movement. Hiking can often require the ability to climb and descend for prolonged periods of time. Tracks will head up a hill or mountain to give you views and lookouts, again the increased angles of these types of tracks requires more movement from your body.
What you need for Hiking
A bit more thought about your safety is required. Reliable and durable gear, good footwear for the hours you will be walking. Carrying some supplies – food, water, a jacket, spare socks, first aid kit. Knowledge of where you are going and how long it will take. A map is always a good idea, company is highly recommended for safety and to enjoy the outing. Lastly, be aware of the weather forecast and always tell someone where you are going.
We recommend comfortable, dependable clothing that will manage your temperature, not chaff or be restricting and give you easy access to some important items – zipped or secure pockets are always good.
Last words…
Our advice is meant to help and inspire you to move more. We want your life to be filled with movement in all sorts of forms and with lots of variation.
Love the look of these Amazing Walking Outfits
Be inspired by all the movement and living you can do in our womens movement clothing range. Move more, live more in movement clothing that looks and feels amazing. All our pants and tops can be worn together when you are out walking or hiking. Get great inspiration for creating a walking oufit that you will wear and use for years. Visit our Walking Clothing for Women Page.
