Why you should step outside.

There is more to health than eating right and exercising. To be truly healthy you should have feelings of wellbeing, positivity and happiness with your life. If you have read my posts you will know how often I exhort getting outside for a walk to get some cardiovascular exercise, well now a research team from Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry has found that most trials that compare outdoor exercise to indoor exercise showed an improvement in mental well-being. In addition to this it states:

“exercising in natural environments was associated with greater feelings of revitalisation, increased energy and positive engagement, together with decreases in tension, confusion, anger and depression. Participants also reported greater enjoyment and satisfaction with outdoor activity and stated that they were more likely to repeat the activity at a later date.”

So getting outside is good for the cardiovascular system, good for mental wellbeing and also good for vitamin D levels (vitamin D deficiency is an established risk factor for osteoporosis and thus fractures.). As we age vitamin D levels decrease but it has been found that older people who get outside daily have the same vitamin D levels as younger people.

This quick post was inspired by an excellent blog I read this morning by Jackie Stewart

5 Ways to Find Happiness in Nature

So why don’t you take a step outside and go for a walk?

I hope you have found this article informative. If you have any questions on this article, or any questions about exercise and the over-50s please post a comment. By subscribing to this blog you will be informed of any new articles. You will not receive any spam email.

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