The importance of a simple walk... but in nature.
In everyday life we find ourselves living more and more in the midst of buildings and streets, but our origins saw us born in the midst of nature where we lived and procured food and useful everyday items.
Today, we find food conveniently in the supermarket and our walks are mostly dedicated to moving between home and work, if we don't take the car, but the benefits of walking in the mountains, in a forest or at the seaside are far greater. Diabetes and obesity, for example, are diseases closely linked to a lack of physical activity and an unhealthy diet. A simple daily walk of 20 minutes is very important to increase muscle tone and to lose fat mass; it is in fact not a bland activity as many people think.
Of course, the benefits of a walk in nature also affect the heart and lungs. In fact, a study carried out on a sample of people who were asked to spend some time sitting on a meadow and, comparing their blood pressure and heart rate levels with another group who spent the same amount of time in nature, but moving around, showed that those who had been active recorded significantly better heart rates than those who had been in nature but sitting down. Furthermore, walking in nature strengthens the immune system because, thanks to the scents and smells that reach our senses, we can reap benefits comparable to those we would get during an aroma therapy session. The immune system also benefits because we breathe clean air and get more exposure to the sun, thus producing more vitamin D. Sunlight also inhibits the release of cortisol, the anxiety and stress hormone, and contributes to the increased production of serotonin, also known as the 'happy hormone', which has the function of alleviating anxiety and pain. The journal Science, back in 1984, published a study on the therapeutic power of trees and nature, showing that patients hospitalised after surgery who were given the opportunity to even see a garden, flowers or trees through the window had a faster recovery time than those who could not see them, and this was due to the increased production of serotonin.
Walking in nature also has a strong calming power on us thanks to flowing water, birdsong and other relaxing sounds that have the ability to pause our brains from the noise that accompanies us daily in the city. It has been proven that listening to such sounds of nature and escaping the daily routine also has a positive effect on negative and stressful thoughts that bring us anxiety and depression. Not to mention the benefit to our waking-sleeping circadian rhythm, which, thanks to the absence of light and noise pollution, allows us to find the right day-night alternation even when resting.
All the benefits described above are perceptible at all ages. In fact, American studies have shown that even for the elderly, walking in nature slows down the ageing of brain cells. Moreover, it is beneficial as a person keeps moving, contributes to the preservation of a good memory and even seems to increase the volume of the hippocampus (the area of the brain dedicated to memory formation and storage).
Finally, we can say that being outdoors in nature helps us to increase our creativity and problem solving because, in unspoilt environments, our ability to concentrate is much greater because we lack the distractions we find in everyday life full of stimuli such as mobile phones, television and urban chaos.
Let us therefore find as many opportunities as possible to be outside in nature and, when this is not possible, let us help ourselves with magma13 products, designed precisely to regain the energy present in the most unspoilt nature at all times.
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SOURCE: https://scienzaverde.it/salute/camminare-tra-la-natura-dove-farlo
