Why should you (and your patients) get out there this weekend?
With the weather set be be dry(ish) but on the chilly side why should you promote to your patients the idea of exercising outdoors? Does this in fact have any more benefits over exercising indoors when we have so much wonderful tech available to make it feel (sort of) the same? Exercise is exercise, right?
Wrong... or is it?
Exercise is exercise
This much is correct and common sense tells you that is the case. Exercise in general will really help to promote a good work-life balance and has a really good impact on mental health and sleep. All the good stuff.
Exercise is exercise in terms of no matter what you do if you are moving and increasing your heart rate then the actual work (easiest to measure in terms of calories) will be the same all other factors being equal.
Notice here how I say the work will be the same. Not the effect or impact of that work.
Confused? Yeh let's look at a few examples...
Example 1 - Tech heavy fully simulated
I've picked indoor cycling here as an example as the tech has really got to the stage where it pretty accurately simulates a lot of the factors of outdoor cycling. I didn't pick something like a treadmill for example as they're just not at the same point
So here I could load up a route exactly the same as an outdoor route and cycle it including the gradient changes (going up hills) and do so without stepping a foot outside. With some software, I could even see that route in front of me like I was outside.
I could even use the same powermeter and track the amount of power and create a comparison to outside
I would ride the same route and the same distance
So why wouldn't they be the same? We're simulating everything right? Well not quite...
Here there are so many factors but if we focus on mood, why will I feel happier having been for an outdoor ride even though the ride, effort and (seemingly) everything in terms of my ride is the same indoors?
Let's look at another...
Example 2 - Treadmill walking
So walking on a treadmill, again you could walk 5km on a treadmill and it wouldn't feel the same as outdoors. Here you might not even expend the same amount of energy on the walk
ome people find they can go further on a treadmill than outdoors and some find they can do less.
Again it wouldn't have the same effect on mental wellbeing even if you went further distance-wise with your walking indoors
So why?
Mood, feelings, the brain and mental well-being are all very complex. I think the easiest way of explaining this is to look at how many different senses you have
In both examples:
- Taste - pretty much would be the same as outdoors, the taste of your water bottle, sweat possibly but missing little things - I think this is the least affected
- Hearing - Massively different - no sound of the wind, no natural sounds like birds, trees creaking. Cars also missing and the sounds of your equipment will be different too (a treadmill doesn't sound like walking on pavement)
- Sight - we can trick this to a certain extent but you are still indoors. No amount of amazing graphics will replace seeing shadows, light glinting off water, refections etc.
- Smell - Again massively impacted, even a shepherd's hut in the middle of nowhere doesn't smell like the outdoors. The smell of trees, earth, grass even cars and manure - they all add to the experience
- Touch - You might think this is the least impacted but everything indoors is designed to be static. Yes, some innovations make the bike on your trainer move slightly but it's not the same as a jarring pot-hole outdoors or controlling a muddy descent. Plus on a treadmill when do you have to move your feet to avoid something or adjust for the camber of the pavement?
That's all well and good but how does that impact mental health and mood?
A lot of people (myself included) exercise not only to keep healthy but to also help with our mental health.
As life inevitably gets in the way surely we want to optimise this as much as possible?
Studies have shown that exercising outdoors has a greater positive impact on mental well-being compared to exercising indoors. These studies didn't just look at port and generalise this to the population, walking was one of the most studied activities.
When we combine this with exercising somewhere 'green' (or more in the countryside) that impact increases further but even in 'pleasant urban environments' the effect is still better than indoors or exercising in less pleasant environments.
Nature and exercise are both well-proven positive things you can include for good mental health so combining them makes sense
Great, how do I get started/get my patients started?
Simple - go for a walk!
Seriously though there are loads of ways to get active outdoors. Here are my top tips for practitioners:
- Make friends with your social prescribers - local clubs and events including really low-impact exercise like Tai Chi can have the same beneficial effects on mood
- Look into what's available in the local area - maybe put up a poster for the local Parkrun and know about these events (did you know loads of people simply walk at Parkrun and it's really encouraged?)
- Talk not only about what your patient does in terms of exercise but why they do it (do they enjoy it?) and the benefits of being outdoors
Top general tips for getting started:
- Pick something you like - why're you doing couch to 5k if you don't enjoy running?
- Build up slowly - make any exercise sustainable, enjoyable and don't push yourself too hard initially (it's a new thing! Ease yourself in!!)
- Look into local clubs and events - having a chat with others whilst exercising or just getting to know new people will help with motivation but also has benefits to mental well-being
- Remember - If you want something structured, supportive, free and at your own pace consider Parkrun. Just walking is fine and they're all over the UK!
Final Thoughts & Sport
This article is mainly to show that getting out in the fresh air isn't some old wives tale and it is good for us
Ultimately I am aware that indoor training especially for structured training plans absolutely has its place and is really beneficial but equally building in outdoor sessions will really help your mental training which is becoming more and more important in sports performance
Moving more is really important and is a massive factor in preventing and improving many health conditions but if we can get outdoors the evidence all points to this being far better for us mentally
Hills & Me?
A little cheeky plug also that as part of our staff engagement and mental well-being, the North West Pure Physiotherapy team are getting outdoors (practising what we preach) and have set ourselves a Challenge to do the 'highest hill' in each county that we work in.
Interesting one if you want some inspiration as they're all there and waiting for you to complete too and as it's for charity we would appreciate any and all donations - see the poster below for more details