HIKE FOR HEALTH
CAROL HEGARTY, an MCSP and HCPC physio at the CSPC physiotherapy clinic in Leeds, explains how regular hillwalking can do wonders for you physically both in the short- and long-term.
“GETTING OUT AND PUTTING ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER CAN HAVE CONSIDERABLE BENEFITS FOR YOUR LONGTERM PHYSICAL HEALTH”
Hiking is a unique and cost-effective way for people to get all the physical activity they need, while simultaneously harvesting the powerful benefits of spending time in nature. It’s also an extremely versatile activity, allowing walkers to adapt and adjust each trip to their personal levels of fitness and experience, so they can take advantage of its tremendous health benefits.
The physical benefits
Hiking is growing fast in popularity, offering obvious immediate health benefits such as reduced blood pressure, enhanced immune functioning, reduced stress levels and restored attention; plus gradual benefits including weight loss, lower risk of depression, increased cardiovascular fitness, physical strength, and overall wellness. It’s also highly accessible
at a beginner level, requiring limited equipment and skills, and allowing you to pick the speed you walk and the terrain difficulty that suits you best.
Walking is fantastic for improving cardiovascular fitness, which is essential for your overall health. The World Health Organisation and the Office of Disease Prevention recommend adults walk for at least 150 minutes every week, in order to combat things like cardiovascular disease and obesity. Hiking three times a week has also been proven to significantly increase oxygen consumption, heart rate and energy consumption, suggesting an increase in general fitness.
Similarly, it’s been shown that people living with chronic illnesses – including Parkinson’s disease and peripheral arterial disease – can benefit from walking in nature by making themselves more active, increasing their fitness levels and improving their overall quality of life.
Why mountains build muscle
Walking up slopes makes your body work harder to maintain balance, while also lowering your centre of gravity and increasing activation of muscles like the calves, hamstrings and glutes. And it isn’t just heading for summits that’s good for you. Walking downhill offers unique muscle strength and health benefits, requiring muscles to contract differently, in an eccentric (muscle-lengthening) manner, providing a breaking action to resist the pull of gravity on your body and stop you tumbling down the mountain. So, while walking both uphill and downhill are clearly good for you – including benefits such as reducing ‘bad’ cholesterol – downhill exercise has been proven to be twice as effective at improving things such as glucose intolerance and removing blood sugars.
Long-term benefits
And talking of muscle, hiking reduces age-related body issues such as loss of muscle mass, which can increase the risk of physical disability in later life. The good news is that regular walking actually increases muscle mass and has been proven to do so in people over 60 years of age. So, if you already walk in the hills, you’ll be pleased to hear getting out and putting one foot in front of the other can have considerable benefits for your long-term physical health.
Walking through the pain barrier
Often when suffering from pain, people tend to avoid activities like walking due to fear of making issues worse. However, this often leads to a paradoxical situation of less muscle and joint activity, increased stiffness and fear of movement. Which inevitably leads to – yes, you’ve guessed it – a further increase in pain. Our bodies are made to move and function, even in times of pain, so even when you’re injured it’s important to keep moving in a way that feels comfortable.
Walking poles are a great way to modify the loads experienced by your body during hiking, especially if pain is an issue. Lower back muscles don’t have to work as hard when walking poles are used, suggesting they can help decrease effort in painful areas of the spine. In general, hiking on challenging or uneven terrain can lead to superior fitness compared to general walking because of the greater amount of muscle mass used to adapt and negotiate the changing surfaces, and this is further emphasised if walking poles are used through the additional motor activity of the upper body.