Research suggests that exercising outdoors – in nature, has mental health benefits, above and beyond that normally experienced with exercise indoors.
A meta analysis, which examined the results of 10 UK studies concluded that exercising in nature had significant long and short term positive effects on both self esteem and mood.
very green environment improved both self-esteem and mood; the presence of water generated greater effects.
Both men and women had similar improvements in self-esteem after green exercise, though men showed a difference for mood.
Age groups: for self-esteem, the greatest change was in the youngest, with diminishing effects with age; for mood, the least change was in the young and old.
The mentally ill had one of the greatest self-esteem improvements.
Unfortunately, I don’t live by a beach in Brazil, but I do live by a river in Hope, North Wales…
