The mountain trails are comfortable and softer for the feet, ankles, knees, back, and hips as compared to the concrete ground. Carrying a backpack enhances the benefits and works additionally on your upper body strength. A stronger & toned musculoskeletal system and reduced body weight with intense practice on an unpredictable and steep terrain help in improving your body balance. Hiking is a great way to get outside, move your body, and explore new places.
Including pro marathoner Nell Rojas, swear by its physical and mental benefits. Since muscles are intensely working during trekking and hiking, they need energy. This reduces the excess sugar in the blood, while also increasing the body’s insulin tolerance. In addition, when the blood sugar levels fall inadequate, the body uses its fat reserves to provide energy.
In addition, hiking for more extended periods with a backpack makes for a great cardiovascular workout, especially when you push yourself to a point when talking becomes quite difficult. Giving yourself good exercise not only invigorates your heart but also lowers cholesterol and blood pressure. Trekking has some seriously good health benefits for your body and K2 Base Camp Trek Pakistan mind. The results of the pre-tests and post-tests are presented in Table 4, and the results from the two-way repeated ANOVA are shown in Table 5. The exercise group showed improved muscle strength, muscle endurance, balance, and flexibility at post-test. A one-way repeated ANOVA revealed group differences in muscle endurance between the pre and post-tests.
Actually, there are many mental health benefits to spending time trekking in nature. Spending quality time in the great outdoors reduces stress, calms anxiety, and can lead to a lower risk of depression, according to a study done by researchers at Stanford University. In addition to having mental health benefits, being outdoors opens up your senses to your surroundings and improves your sensory perception. Taking in the sights, smells, and feelings of nature has so many health benefits it can even be prescribed by a doctor. Mental benefits –Stress can disrupt your everyday life, causing health problems and depression.
In fact, hiking’s many physical and mental health benefits make it one of the best workouts for both your body and your mind. Hikers of any age or ability level can find a hike that will provide them with an appropriate challenge. Nine to five jobs, full social calendars and everyday life admin is enough to keep us at a permanent level of stress below the surface. Going for a hike reduces your blood pressure and cortisol levels producing a calming effect only nature can offer – over an above the benefits of exercise alone. In today’s day and age, it seems like a no-brainer that we should get outside more.
An increase of 10% incline in hiking boosts calories burn by around 30-35%, while a backpack weight increase of pounds accelerates the fat burn by approximately 10-15%. Needless to add, the biggest beneficiary is the legs, particularly gluteal muscles , quadriceps , hamstrings , inner & outer thighs, hips, and calves. Oblique muscles neck, shoulder,& arms muscles & bones are also groomed. All this while, your bone density is increasing and the density loss or osteoporosis is slowing down. Trekking is especially helpful for people with joints & back pain, a condition called arthritis.
New look on workout –Trekking can be as easy as walking in your neighborhood, or as difficult as a mountain climb depending on one’s current physical activity level. Unlike the treadmill, trekking offers new scenery, different terrain, and requires almost no equipment. Through this mental awareness, you activate your hippocampus and retrosplenial cortex, part of the brain that is believed to control spatial memory and navigation. By activating different areas and creating new pathways in the brain, hiking keeps the mind sharp.
This helps in increasing our health, strength, physical fitness, and endurance. Though trekking is not necessarily a highly intense sport, the heart rate does maintain a steady, increased rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles and the brain. When you are booking a trekking experience that takes multiple days or even weeks, you will spend a lot of time with the people you are hiking with. This can be your guide, your porters or simply the people who booked the same trekking tour as you.