The benefits of healthy exercise are well known. But did you know that there are added benefits if you do outdoor exercise, if you participate in outdoor fitness?

Recently, researchers at the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry have undertaken a systematic review of numerous studies, which compared the effects of outdoor exercise initiatives with the effects of those exercise initiatives which were conducted indoors. Reported in the Science Daily (and retrieved on 6 February 2011), the study’s clear conclusion is that there are both mental and physical benefits to our well-being, which are gained by doing healthy exercise in the natural environment.

In relation to our mental well-being, most of the studies reviewed found that exercising in the natural environment, as compared to exercising indoors, was associated with greater feelings of revitalisation, increased energy and positive engagement, as well as decreases in tension, confusion, anger and depression. Interestingly, study participants also reported greater enjoyment and satisfaction with outdoor exercise compared with indoor exercise activity, and they stated that they were more likely to repeat outdoor fitness activity in the future.

Unfortunately, none of the studies forming part of the healthy exercise review measured the effects of outdoor physical activity on physical well-being compared to indoor exercise, or the effect of natural environments on adhering to an exercise regime. As a result, it is thought that the benefits to our physical well-being which the researchers claim, more likely are associated with the mind-body connection. As we say: healthy mind, healthy body. Clearly further research is needed to better understand the link between mental and physical well-being and outdoor exercise.

Nonetheless, for people who live most of their lives inside four walls or in urban environments, the results speak for themselves. Exercising outdoors appears more beneficial to your mental health, especially if you suffer from a mental illness, like depression. A caveat to that, however, must be that if you exercise in a highly polluted outdoor environment, where you will be inhaling toxic fumes while you exercise, your physical well-being may be adversely affected. Perhaps important and overlooked in the review of healthy exercise is the fact that when you are participating in daytime outdoor fitness, you are getting vitamin D through sunlight exposure, which itself contributes to physical and mental well-being. (more…)