The summer holiday season is well underway, and if you’ve given some thought to where and how you’re going to enjoy it, then you’ll understand just how vast your options are. Choosing one can be tricky, especially if you like the idea of a range of them and different elements of each. Sometimes it feels as though it would be easier to let someone pick for you, and that’s how many package holidays, complete with excursions, work. Change the way you go about selecting holidays, however, and plump for one that’s active yet soothing, that provides adventure but still allows your mind to rest and escape the modern day stresses of life. This is a nature holiday inclusive of camping, trekking, and hiking.
Get Out In The Green
Nature holidays assimilate you with the natural surroundings, and getting outside is good for your mental health. It’s believed to lower levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, and a result, you should feel calmer and more relaxed. By getting outside, you’ll also have a chance to absorb the vitamin D from the sun’s rays. When deciding where to go, research thoroughly and consider Europe – Iceland, Scotland, and Germany. If you’re looking to soak up the sun, then consider going to Utah and trekking across one of their five national parks. Hiking trails in Zion Canyon cover some of the most breathtaking sights the southern states have to offer.
Reap Cardiovascular Benefits
Hiking and trekking require you to use energy reserves and muscles you probably didn’t know you had. It can be hard work, and if you’re climbing in the heat, then you’ll soon begin to work up a sweat. Hiking is a powerful cardio workout, and can lower your risk of heart disease as well as boost bone density and improve circulation.
Improve Your Sleeping Schedule
Natural light encourages your body to regulate its melatonin production, which is a hormone that controls your body clock and makes you feel tired at night and awake during the day. Receiving a good dose of melatonin while out in the light of day should help you get to sleep earlier at night, as should the amount of energy-zapping climbing you’ve been doing. Spending a week or so out in the open could potentially see you change your sleeping pattern around – no more long sleepless nights for you as you find yourself heading to bed shortly after sunset even after you return back home.
Go Off Grid
Ignore your mobile phone and your responsibilities for a while, and focus on nothing other than the natural world around you. Going off grid and enjoying a simpler way of life encourages mindfulness – a state in which you feel calm as you’re focussed only on your presence in the here and now, and on how you’re breathing. There’s a thrill of escaping normal life and subsisting out of a backpack, pitching your tent, and scrambling eggs for breakfast over a small gas stove. You can still take your mobile with you, as you can pack a solar paneled charging kit, so you can get as off grid as you please.
