Hike Your Way out of Depression

Benefits of Exercise on Mental Health

The correlation between getting regular exercise and physical health is well established. If you want to lower your blood pressure, drop your blood sugar or strengthen your muscles and bones then all of the doctors are going to tell you to hit the gym!

However, getting regular exercise does more than strengthen the body. There is a growing body of evidence that exercise is also beneficial for mental health.

Research has primarily focussed on the benefits of treating depression with exercise and the studies consistently show positive results. One study found that the positive benefits on mental health from exercise can come quickly as they measured positive results after just ten days of 30 minute walks on treadmills.

Personally I know that I always feel better and am more clear headed after being physically active. I have no doubts that getting exercise is great for my physical and mental health but I have a problem that I suspect is shared by many people. I hate going to the gym.

Many People Do Not Enjoy Going To The Gym

Gym enrollments spike in January when people make New Year’s resolutions related to health and weight loss and again in March as people prepare to look good for Spring.

Of course, most of the people that sign up for gym memberships only go for a month or two before quitting. While the reasons that people quit are varied I will propose that many of them quite simply because they do not enjoy what they do at the gym.

Additionally I will suggest that many of the people who do maintain a regular gym based exercise schedule do not actually enjoy their time at the gym. I make this claim based on the fact that in most traditional gyms all of the members all engaged with a device. They are either watching a television on the wall or are using their phones to check Facebook, stream Netflix or watching YouTube videos. They are trying hard to distract themselves from the boredom of their workouts.

So while you can get yourself in a better mood by hitting the gym the challenge is making the process of exercise a sustainable habit. I believe the exercise habit can become sustainable if people engage in an enjoyable activity such as hiking.

Why Hiking Is Better

When you are hiking you are mentally present and focussed.

Unlike walking on a treadmill, hiking on a trail is an experience that engages your body and your mind. When you are hiking in the woods you are not staring at a screen waiting for the hike to be over. Instead, you are paying attention to your foot placement, listening to the squirrels chatter and watching the scenery unfold in front of you.

Additionally, hiking provides a different workout than you get with a treadmill. Hiking trails often have uneven terrain which forces you to use more stabilization muscles than are required when walking on the the constant even surface of a treadmill.

A not so obvious benefit of hiking is that it helps create a new and positive self identity. After you hike a few trails it is natural to say to yourself, “I am a hiker. I do things that hikers do like going to National Parks for spectacular trails. I make friendships with other hikers as we share the trails together.” I will suggest that this self identity is more positive and transformational than someone who identifies simple as a “gym member”.

How to Find Hiking Trails

One barrier to going on a hike is finding a trail in the first place. The starting point (trailheads) for many hiking spots can be hard to spot unless you know where to look.

I have found that the best way to find hiking trails is by using sites like AllTrails and Traillink. These sites contain reviews by fellow hikers that provide helpful information such as the difficulty of the trail, how well marked it is and any notable points of interest such as waterfalls.

If you want to really clear your mind and get yourself in a better mood then get outside and start hiking!