Getting outdoors is good for our health at any time of the year

Kimberley - Western Australia

I now have readers from across the world, including Australia (of course), Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Pakistan, Portugal, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed, and I thought given these countries have the most amazing scenery, national parks, city parks, beaches and rivers that I would speak about the benefits of outdoor activity, so that we can appreciate what’s in our backyard or perhaps consider somewhere on the bucket list you would like to go one day.

Black Sandy Beach - Hana, Maui

There are so many benefits to simply being outdoors, not even being active but just being outside and in particular with nature. Getting regular sunlight is really beneficial for maintaining our Vitamin D levels. Having good Vitamin D levels is essential for bone health and helps to reduce our risk of osteoporosis and fractures, it is also good for our immune function and reduces inflammation [1]. In general, we get enough Vitamin D from sunlight (try and avoid the time of the day when the UV rays are at their most damaging though), however in winter, on cloudy days or if there is air pollution where you live these can affect how we absorb it. Older people also absorb less Vitamin D from sunlight so you may need to check with your health professional, have your levels reviewed annually and consider supplements if necessary.

398 steps to the Chureito Pagoda

One of the really great things about outdoor activity is it improves physical function, how we feel and can increase our walking speed too, which is important for reducing our risk of falling and outdoor activity improves our fear of falling too. People who walk faster and have greater stride length are less likely to fall than those who walk slowly and shuffle. Walking outdoors, particularly through nature usually requires us to lift our feet with each step, which is another important part of preventing falls. Even in winter, which we are experiencing currently in Australia walking through the bush to waterfalls, along the beach or river can still be lots of fun and provide amazing scenery. The air should also be less polluted than right in the cities too, so there are many added benefits.

Emma Gorge

As I have spoken about previously, any kind of physical activity has great health benefits, especially if we live with chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, or high blood pressure. Both aerobic training (walking, running, riding, swimming) and strength training are hugely beneficial, and you can often do both in the outdoors. Many parks have the outdoor training equipment in them to make it easy to add in strength training, but simply doing push ups on a bench, triceps push ups, squats, lunges and calf raises while on a walk through a park makes it easy to combine the two. Just find a park you love walking through and add in these extra activities.

One of the greatest benefits of being outdoors is boosting our mental health and reducing depression. People of any age who spend more time outdoors being physically active have fewer symptoms of depression, reduced anxiety, and improved mood. Studies have shown these benefits are also the same for older adults who have a significant reduction in depression when exposed to natural environments [2]. If you like yoga or Tai Chi there are also parks available where you can get together with other people and do these activities too.

Yoga in the Park

Outdoor activities don’t only have to be about walking in nature outside of the home. Gardening is also a great way to get outdoors and be active, particularly if it is heavy work like pruning trees or digging things out to get ready for the next harvest of fruit and vegetables. Getting down and weeding, then up again to throw the weeds into the bin, rinse and repeat, are all great activities for staying strong and maintaining balance and as we know balance is essential if we want to prevent falls and stay living independently [3].

Did you know that getting outdoors also boosts your immune system and we often sleep better after it too. I love going hiking on holidays when we are visiting different countries or even towns in Australia. I can still remember driving into Yosemite, down into the valley and the huge mountains, cliffs and amazing waterfalls just hit you as you turn one of the corners. So much of it was accessible by foot, instead of driving, so we hired bikes for a day and really enjoyed riding around the giant sequoias or through Cook’s meadow or hiking up to some of the waterfalls. I remember the day we did one of the steeper walks to a waterfall I was wearing a t-shirt that said "Make progress, not excuses” and a couple of parents with teenage kids who were perched on the rocks resting on the way up asked for the shirt because their teenagers were not enjoying the activity and kept complaining about how hard it was! Yet we met plenty of older people on the way up who were loving the scenery and were really enjoying the walk. Nature really can be good for the soul if we look up and appreciate what is around us.

Me riding around Yosemite National Park

Cognitive function is so important at any age and outdoor physical activity has been shown to be associated with improved attention, memory and cognitive performance [4]. Older adults who spend more time outdoors report better cognitive abilities and information retention, so we all gain great benefits simply by getting outside and enjoying ourselves, as well as being active.

A lot of the time when we decide to go out and do outdoor activities we are doing it with likeminded people who enjoy doing it too. It could be going for a hike and having a picnic lunch halfway or actually joining a group and going on specific walks, hikes or even kayaking tours that show another view of either the outdoors or for some people remote areas or the wilderness. It really is about finding what you enjoy, with people you like spending time with and if you can do this there will be so many health benefits, it also helps to avoid things like social isolation or loneliness.

Probably the most important part of being outdoors and being active though is for the enjoyment. If you do enjoy this type of activity, then why not make plans to do it more often. It can be close to home or part of your next holiday. It is well known that activities people enjoy they do more frequently and keep up over longer periods of time. Adherence (keeping things going for long periods of time) is essential to having success with anything in life, as the saying goes “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and physical, mental and cognitive function may take years to decrease, but when it does, it will be harder to get back to where you want to be and more difficult to improve. Why not avoid this and stay active and build reserves, your body, mind and brain will thank you for it.

• If you are already active in the outdoors keep doing it, it’s great you are looking after yourself and your body

• Perhaps on your next holiday consider some sights that take a bit to get to and set a goal to train to make this happen. The best things to see are often the hardest to get to, but so worth it

• If you want to start being active with likeminded people, consider joining a group. A good friend loves hiking so she joined Adventurous Women, they do day hikes but also overnight trips and longer travel. It’s about exploring the world, building friendships and being in nature

• Cold water swimming has picked up in popularity lately, and there is some emerging evidence it is good for physical and mental health. If you love swimming it might be something you want to try, but start slowly and if you have health conditions ask a health professional before diving in

• Some of the most spectacular scenery happens in winter, when waterfalls and rivers are flowing at their peak and paddocks are green. Then in spring, wildflowers come out and paddocks or fields turn to bright colours. Great time to take a day trip and discover areas not too far away but get active at the same time

• Think about places around where you live, it might be a short drive or train/bus ride away or simply in your backyard if you are lucky enough to live on a large property or farm. We have friends who like to walk along the coastline every night as the sun goes down, it’s 5 minutes from where they live and often we will receive a photo of the beautiful sunset, which reminds us of this amazing place we live

• When we were younger and would go to our cousins’ farm, we would spend an afternoon looking for firewood and then at night have a bonfire and toast marshmallows using sticks. It meant we kept up with our cousins, learnt about the bush and built great memories as a family as well as being active. My sister has kept the tradition going with her kids and my cousins’ kids, such a fun part of growing up and a privilege to be able to spend time on a farm.

Live the good life!

Reference:

[1] Office of Dietary Supplements. (2022, March 24). Vitamin D: Fact sheet for health professionals. National Institutes of Health. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/

[2] Beyer, K. M. M., Kaltenbach, A., Szabo, A., Bogar, S., Nieto, F. J., & Malecki, K. M. (2014). Exposure to neighborhood green space and mental health: Evidence from the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 11(3), 3453–3472. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph110303453

[3] Montero-Odasso, M., Kamkar, N., Pieruccini-Faria, F., Osorio, R. S., Bray, N. W., Sones, J. L., ... & van der Velde, N. (2022). World guidelines for falls prevention and management for older adults: A global initiative. Age and Ageing, 51(9), afac205. https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afac205

[4] Zhu, G. (2024). The effect of outdoor activities on the medical expenditure of older people: Multiple chain mediating effects of health benefits. BMC Public Health, 24, 1227. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-18719-z