Trekking has become fashionable in recent years. And it is not for nothing as it is a sport that is within everyone’s reach; you will only need comfortable clothing and a pair of sneakers. Besides, it’s not a competitive or intense sport, you set your own limits!

Disconnecting from routine and immersing ourselves in nature while practicing sports by walking on trails, discovering all kinds of plants, animals and landscapes is a perfect plan for any weekend that will greatly benefit your body and mind.

MENTAL BENEFITS

We live in a world where we have a frenetic pace of life. Lack of time, hurry, stress, nerves, anxiety… are part of our society and affect our health negatively. Contact with nature, far from the big cities, will make you free yourself from all those ties and feel better about yourself, improving your quality of life.

Trekking helps clear the mind and ideas

How many times have we heard that from… “Go on, take a walk and clear your head”? And he’s right, because when we walk our body and our mind work together. Walking will distract you for a few hours from your daily obligations and worries. By walking you focus your mind and shape your thoughts while enjoying the landscape and the environment, helping you make decisions more clearly.

Stress and anxiety reduction

The endorphins that are released during a walk provoke feelings of happiness and even euphoria, helping to control anxiety and depression levels. Long-term trekking will help improve your mood, decrease stress and help you sleep better.

In addition, you can travel with your pet, which also make us release a high amount of endorphins

A person with open arms to the sun

Increased self-esteem

By trekking you will increase your self-confidence and lose all your fears. At the end of the route you will realize that there are no limits. You will value your capacity for effort and self-improvement and you will feel proud of having managed to overcome the journey. A challenge of physical and mental overcoming that will make us return to our daily life with our batteries charged.

In addition, the increase in self-esteem will be greater if we overcome goals set during our walk, we will feel fulfilled and capable of anything, the return to our daily lives will be done with the batteries charged.

All the routes of the Camino de Santiago
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Trekking improves social skills

We can go hiking alone or accompanied. There is an unwritten law among the people who do trekking, and it is the relationship of complicity or camaraderie. During the route you will meet people with whom you will share paths and exchange greetings, looks, conversations. It is possible that if you start this practice you will meet many people with your same interests and, why not, make some friends for life.

Four people hiking in the countryside

Increased concentration and creativity

Disconnect to connect. Whether it is for work or leisure, the reality is that many of us live continuously glued to a screen. Despite the fact that new technologies make our lives easier and more enjoyable, it is very necessary to know how to disconnect from them and pay attention to the wonders of our environment.

After several days of trekking, you will connect with nature by firing your creativity, improving your problem-solving skills by up to 50%.

Increased memory

Once you are free from all the stress, you will notice how your mind starts to work better. Another benefit of trekking is improved memory. As you walk and let your mind flow, you will remember important events in your life.

PHYSICAL BENEFITS

Every sport helps us get in shape, and hiking or trekking is no less. If you are looking for a healthy and recommendable sport for any person, this is the one for you. Next we will detail the benefits at physical level that this activity has.

Weight control

This is an aerobic exercise, the best for losing weight. We will be in continuous movement for a long time. It will require an effort so we will burn many calories, obviously it depends on the difficulty and the time invested, but on average we will lose 400 Kcal. The greater the effort, the more we will burn.

A person on the scale

Cardiovascular and Lung Health

Hiking is a prolonged activity that will help us strengthen our hearts little by little. We can then prevent possible heart disease or help to improve if we suffer from any.

On this page you will find all kinds of equipment for this type of adventure: https://www.globosurfer.com/best-gifts-for-backpacking-hiking-camping-enthusiasts/. Thanks to it you will be able to improve your cardiovascular health by means of trekking

As it is an exercise that is usually done outdoors, the environment will be less polluting. We will improve our lung capacity and detoxify ourselves, reduce possible respiratory diseases, and breathe better.

Relief of joint and back pain

As long as we practice this activity correctly, with the right weight, previous warm-up and other factors, we will notice an improvement in our body. It will help us have healthier bones, improving diseases such as arthritis. It will also help us to alleviate muscular tensions that are normally more noticeable in the back, thus relieving pain. Finally, in relation to the bones, this exercise will help increase bone density, thus preventing diseases such as osteoporosis.

A person with back pain

Reduction of glucose and cholesterol levels

Many doctors recommend walking about 30 minutes a day to lower cholesterol and glucose levels. Substantially, walking will benefit our bodies by keeping blood glucose and cholesterol levels in the healthy range.  In this way we can anticipate the appearance of diseases such as diabetes, coronary disease or other related diseases.

I’m sure that after reading this article you’ll want to put on your slippers and start exploring the routes and trails in your area. What are you waiting for? Cheer up, your body and your mind will thank you.

All the trips to do the Camino de Santiago with your dog
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