Assuming that you look for exploration and are interested in going through unique experiences, then hiking is the one must-do thing. Hiking has its own unmatchable charm. It offers amazing experiences you get to connect with nature and have your glance at some of the most amazing landscapes that you might have not seen in your whole lifetime.
Apart from being an exciting experience, it offers various other benefits for the physical, mental and social health of the person. Mostly the people in the USA are tired of their 9-5 and they need recreational activities and hiking can be an extremely effective activity in this regard.
People are experiencing nature deficit disorder and thus hiking can make them connect to nature and experience the minute details that will nourish their bonds with nature.
In this blog post, we will have our core focus on the hiking benefits. And at last, we will have a rundown on the top hiking trails on the east coast so stay connected till the very end!
Summary
Hiking has its own charm, it makes you connect with nature, explore and experience new things.it is a recreational activity that helps with nature deficit disorder and has mental, physical health and social health benefits.
Nature Deficit Disorder and Hiking
You could have known about nature deficiency disorder. Nature deficiency disorder is a condition that is associated with having unfavorable results in your everyday life due to less contact and association with nature.
In the modern age, people are more and more concerned about their work and are that much stuck in their 9-5 word countries. And due to this heavy workload and continuous stress, they don’t have time for recreational activities and even if they have time they are not willing to go out as they want to rest.
This way they don’t have any connection with nature as their exposure is reduced. Humans require this exposure to green space and the outdoors. Due to the limited outdoor experience firstly bodily fitness is hampered. And it links other conditions like stress anxiety, attention difficulties and all other things with it.
Hiking’s Role
Hiking can have a very defining role here. It can be used as a treatment for the nature deficit disorder. Most outdoor activities have limited benefits but some will give you physical health benefits. Some will provide mental health and peace. But with hiking, you get a package of multiple things.
With hiking you can improve your overall physical health. You get mental health benefits by going into nature and your emotional health is improved. You get to spend time with the people you are hiking with and it can be an amazing experience and you will get to bond with them.
Which You are unable to do while you are sitting idly indoors.
Hiking with its mental, physical and emotional benefits helps to fight nature deficit disorder. The person connects with nature and this fosters positive emotions in the person. And acts as a stress and anxiety buster and the person tends to experience life and connect to nature.
As we described, hiking has mental, physical and social health benefits.Now we will talk about each one of them in detail.
Physical Health Benefits of Hiking
Hiking offers exciting physical health benefits, it can become a recreational activity that will help you a lot in maintaining your physical health overall.
Cardiovascular Health
Hiking offers various benefits to the heart. The hiking activity is great for aerobic fitness. While a person hikes the blood flow in the heart increases. With continuous hiking, it becomes an exercise for the heart to deal with thin increased blood flow.
With continuous exercising aerobic fitness and endurance increase and heart health in turn increases.
With cardiovascular health improvement the risk of blood pressure and cholesterol level rise decreases and with overtime involvement in hiking the CVD health improves a lot.
Muscle and Bone Strengthening
Muscle and bone strengthening is also caused by hiking. Hiking is an effective exercise and it involves different muscle and muscle groups. It may range from your thighs to calves it covers almost every muscle of your body. So this exercise helps in strengthening the muscles.
With the continued engagement of the muscles and bone, the bone density also increases and thus the strength overall increases.
With the muscle and bone strength another benefit that comes in hand is the improved balance. As the hiker goes through the uneven paths their stability increases.
How Mental Health Gets Better by Hiking
Hiking is also linked with a lot of mental health benefits. here we have listed some major mental health benefits that hiking provides;
Stress Buster
As we briefly said in the nature deficit disorder portion as well, hiking can be an effective stress reliever. Stress is a common part of our lives and therefore we must take corrective actions to relieve the stress and enjoy happy lives.
Hiking acts as a stress reliever as it disconnects from a daily life routine that is the ultimate source of stress nowadays. You get to experience nature and you get the freedom to lose yourself in nature and connect to it. This process mentally sort of gives you a recharge. After hiking when you indulge in your daily stressful life you will experience a change as you will get less stressed and you will have an uplifted mood.
Mood Enhancement
Hiking helps a lot in uplifting the mood and enhancing it. Hiking has been linked with increasing hormones like endorphins. The endorphin hormones are the ones that promote the feeling of happiness inside one’s body.
When you go into nature you exert your physical energy to reach a point that gives you peace and amazing scenery to look at. Your body in reward releases these happy hormones that make you feel calmer and joyful. So it helps with mood and stress-busting.
Depression Prevention
Depression is the most common disease nowadays in our society and the reason is the lack of connection with nature and staying indoors while doing no recreational activity.
We as humans require recreational activities that make us happy. But ignoring these activities and just going into an indoor shell in which you have stress and anxiety, depression is bound to happen.
So to prevent depression, going for a hike can be a decent approach. Hiking is a recreational activity that lowers depressive symptoms at the end of the day. With nature everywhere around you has positive impacts on brain function mood and overall mental health. So, it is quite effective in depression relief and mental health
How Hiking Improves Social Health
Hiking helps in building connections between people. When you engage in an activity with people your bond with those people gets better. Doing it with your people like your friends and family will help you in building a deeper connection with them. You share experiences with them and your shared activities become your stories and it creates a special bond between you
people.
These memories of you with your people will last forever in your mind and you will remember those good times you had spent with them and their company. This ay the social health of your gets better with hiking.
Tips For Making Closer Bonds While Hiking
In case you want to plan your hiking activity to make close bonds with your people you must do the following.
- The first tip that you must follow is to communicate with them. Having meaningful conversion while being open will help you in making that bond stronger.
- Supporting each other throughout the journey is a must-do thing as it helps you in building a connection and a sense of teamwork.
- And while hiking when you achieve a milestone you must celebrate with your mates to create memories
Top Exotic Trails on the East Coast
Here we have some top exotic trails on the East Coast.
KATAHDIN KNIFE EDGE TRAIL, MAINE
Mount Katahdin is the highest peak when we talk about Maine. Its height is 5267 feet and it is inside the Baxter State Park.
Peak Height:
It is 5267 feet.
Trail Duration:
There are two trails.
- The first one’s duration is 1-2 hours. It is alone for the Knife’s Edge which is at its peak. It is 1.1 miles
- The second one’s duration is 8-12 hours and is 5 miles.
Difficulty:
It is quite strenuous.
Ricketts Glen Fall Trail
The Ricketts Glen Fall Trail is located in Benton, Pennsylvania.
Peak Height:
Mohawk Falls at 2,165 feet
Trail Duration:
The time duration is around 6-8 hours. There are two options
- The full loop is 7.2 miles to hike all the portions
- For most of the waterfalls take the 3.2-mile loop on Highland Trail, Glen Leigh and Ganoga Glen sides.
Difficulty:
It is moderate.
Grandfather Trail
It is located in Linville, North Carolina.
Peak Height:
5,964 feet.
Duration:
The length is 2.5 hours and 2.4 miles one-way.
Difficulty:
This trail is very difficult and troublesome and isn’t suggested for any unpracticed hiker.
Jack River Trail
It is located in Georgia.
Trail Duration:
The trail duration is 16 miles and it takes around 7 hours to complete it.
Difficulty:
The difficulty is moderate.
