How Outdoor Activities Change People’s Life

People’s lives have been greatly changed as a result of technological advancements. People no longer choose to travel long distances for food or work long hours in the fields, as they did in the past. The majority of those workers have been taken up by machines. As a result of this machination of our lives, often people hardly engage in physical activities. In today’s culture, a lack of exercise is a symptom of humans being disconnected from nature. Meanwhile, people’s welfare has deteriorated as a result of this condition. While many people are already aware that getting some outdoor activities may help to reduce the risk of disasters on both their mental and physical health, they still find it difficult to go for outdoor activities that can make them attain this. This is why I chose my discourse community to be members of a hiking club UC Davis.

To show people understand how outdoor activities bring us benefits, this paper summarizes the existing current issues and identifies outdoor activities’ advantages. In this study, I conducted the survey to understand how many students or hiking club members would like to release their stress by doing some outdoor hiking, and then do interviews to ask participants how their feelings on getting benefit from outdoor activities. The survey result showed that almost every participant would like choosing hiking as a way to release their stress. Meanwhile, the interviews showed results that people feel that participating in hiking club not only help them reduce depression, but also assist them in getting know more people and learned how to make friends in a group or community. All collected data prove the point which hiking outside brings people benefit. All my data are gathered by the views from students who currently participate in hiking, and belong to hiking club. The all-around survey makes the survey data more reliable and valid. As a result, I propose that doing outdoor hiking should not only be a way of releasing depression, but also a recreation that should let people get close to others in the community.

Introduction

UC Davis hosts some students who participate in various extracurricular activities, on top of their regular studies. Thus, different clubs are formed by students who are interested in their operations. The UC Davis hiking club is one such example. This organization was established with the intention of encouraging students to participate in outdoor activities. This is the club that I got interested in after learning about them from various sources. Indeed, what drew my interest in the club is their active participation in numerous hiking activities around the institution. Thus, recently, I joined this hiking club hosted by UC Davis.

UC Davis hiking club is a community which does outdoor hiking. The purpose of this hiking club is to help people participate in outdoor activities. These outdoor activities have been found to have various health benefits to those who participate in them. Thus, to reduce risks of depression and such other conditions, the community in UC Davies is encouraged to join such clubs and get to with other people more. Personally, I joined it to learn more about the club and their activities.

On joining the club, the first thing I feel about this organization is that its members are all pursuing the same goal. The goal that they are all pursuing is having a healthier life. In fact, this idea of living healthier has been developed for a while. More and more folks are becoming aware of their body health, and this individuals’ consciousness spurs the need to eat healthier and live healthier. People who used to doing exercising already known that regular exercise is not a way to keep overall health and fitness, but lengthens and impress the quality of lives (Lloyd-Jones, 2010). In fact, getting close to nature is now a mainstream lifestyle, and upon all those choices, hiking has been considered as the top choice for most citizens, for its capability of reducing anxiety, reshape the body, and finally boosting the relationship between each other.

Reducing Anxiety

In the modern society, everyone has conditions when they feel anxious at some point in their lives. For instance, having struggles with relationships, sitting to take a big exam or facing some problems of physical issues are all the triggers of being anxiety. During this process, most people feel nervous and sometimes deal things negatively. If people do not solve problems in a right way, then they might suffer from these anxiety or panic disorders such like feeling stomachs or feeling nasty (Chunn, 2016). Currently, stress becomes more common and harmful than we may want to admit. Chunn writes in his article, “According to the findings of a major University of Cambridge report, more than 8 million publics in the UK grieve some anxiety disorder and women and people under 35 are primarily affected”. However, walking outside helps reduce this condition. It is an activity contributes to release your muscle tension. Meanwhile, when you walk into nature, walking releases, your body adrenalin results showed walking immediately decrease people’s stress and anxiety, regardless of ”how fast or slow the participants walked” (Lloyd-Jones, 2010). Working out can make people’s mind much more clear. It helps the brain get fully rested and makes sure to keep mind stay in good status.

Reshape Body

Obesity is the standard issue which appears in our daily life. In the United States, can you imagine there is more than one-third of U.S. adults have obesity? Obesity is associated with health risks. Like all forms of exercise, hiking is also a way to help people lose their weight and reshape their body. No matter you walk in a park or hike the mountains, during the exercise, people are raving up their fat burning. According to data, a 160-lb person ”burns between 430 and 440 calories per hour of rambling. The heavier an individual gets, the more calories they burn in an hour of hiking” (Panza 2014). Moreover, we all get to know that doing exercise to reduce weight is more effectively than dieting because the latter one is more easily to get the weight back.

Boosting the Relationship

Another advantage that hiking can bring to people is the ability to enhance the relationship. The term ”relationship” here is not limited to lovers, as people can also hiking with their friends, their families, and even business partners. Hiking can also bring social benefit for people. It offers the chance to socialize. For instance, the author of the article, ”Physical, Social, Emotional and Intellectual Benefits of Outdoor Recreation” mentions that doing outdoor physical activity make people speak to others. Meanwhile, outdoor activities help people build pride in the community. When you meet individuals who have the same interest as you do, you will share and communicate with your common goal in this group. Thus, participating in a community might also increase your communication skill and interpersonal relationship handling ability.

Thesis

How much does joining a community’s hiking club contribute to encouraging people to participate in outdoor activities?

Methods:

For my primary research, I conducted surveys and interviews mentions. All my collected data are coming from UCDavis hiking club members. I chose study method because I believed using surveys would bring me valid and honest data. I do an online survey which lists all my questions and sent by our hiking club group message. On the other hand, I also use interview this method. When I interview people in person, I can ask them problems. From people’s words, I can collect the most directly answer about their views of hiking’s benefits. There are 23 people answered my survey; I also interviewed several students and organizers during our hiking events to ask their opinion about their views on live in a healthy lifestyle.

1. What the top recreational way you will choose?

a. Watching TV 30%

b. Sleeping all day 10%

c. Shopping 30%

d. Doing some outside activities 30%

2. How often do you feel stressful?

a. always 10%

b. Often 20%

c. Regular 40%

d. Seldom 30%

e. never 0%

3. What do you would like to do when you feel stressful?

a. Watching TV 40%

b. Sleeping all day 20%

c. Shopping 20%

d. Doing some outside activities 20%

4. How long have you been joined in the hiking club?

a. 4-5 years 20%

b. 1-3 years 30%

c. Half year 40%

d. One-quarter or more 10%

5. Do you think hiking can help you reduce your stresses?

a. yes, 60 %

b. Helpful 20%

c. normal 10%

d. not 10%

e. none

6. Which benefit did you care by joining hiking club?

a. help you to reduce depression 10%

b. Assist you in getting know more people 30%

c. Help you reduce your weight 30%

d. just for relaxing 30%

Results

There are 23 people answered my survey. On the choice of recreational activity, 30% chose watching TV, sleeping all day took 10%, shopping took another 30%, and then another 30% said they prefer doing some outside activities. On the question of how often do they feel stressed, 10% of the respondents stated that they always get stressed, 20% indicated that they often get stressed, 40% said they regularly get stressed, 30% reported that they seldom get stressed, while none said they never get stressed. On the question of what they do when they feel stressed, 40% of the respondents said that they watch TV, 20% specified that they sleep all day, another 20% stated that they go shopping, while another 20% quantified that they would do some outside activities to relieve stress.

On the question of how long they have been joined in the hiking club, 20% of respondents said they have been in the club for 4-5 years. 30% detailed that they have been in it for 1-3 years, 40% said they have been in it for the half year, and only 10% said they have been in the club for one-quarter or more. On the question of if they think hiking can help them to reduce their stresses, 60% said yes, 20% found hiking to be helpful, 10% found it reasonable, and another 10% found it to be unhelpful. On the question of which benefit they gain by joining a hiking club, 10% said that it helped them to reduce depression. 30% said it helps them in getting know more people; another 30% said it helps them to reduce their weight, while another 30% said it helps them just for relaxing.

Discussion

By collecting all feedback, members’ answers my research questions. Hiking brings people benefits. I think the most important part people cannot ignore is I am doing this discourse community research to show more people to live a healthy life. From secondary research data, in order society, people must face different types of disasters. Some are most directly signs on physical problems. Some are more like mental issues which people suffer from stress and nervous. This paper studies from different angels to encourage people to get rid of the urban setting and walk into nature. All evidence showed that doing the outdoor activity like hiking help people on both physical and mental problems. Meanwhile, this paper impress people the benefits from hiking. By collecting data and information from the research papers, the concepts or real data about human health all become strong evidence to prove my research question.

Reference

Centers for Disease Control. (2009). Retrieved from: http://w w w.cdc.gov/healthy weight /physical activity /index.ht ml

Chunn, L. (2016). How anxiety became a modern epidemic greater than depression. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/wellbeing/mood-and-mind/how-anxity-became-a-modern-epidemic-greater-than-depression/

Godbey, G. (2009). Outdoor Recreation, Health, and Wellness: Understanding and Enhancing the Relationship. Retrieved from: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? astract_id=1408694

Lloyd-Jones, D., Adams, R. J., & Brown, T. M. (2010). Health Benefits of Hiking. Circulation, 121, e1-e170.

Panza, S. M. (2014). The Calories Burned Per Hour in Hiking. Retrieved from: http://www.livestrong.com/article/299000-the-calories-burned-per-hour-in-hiking/

Rogers, M. (2016). Adult Obesity Facts. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/ obesity/data/adult.html

University, S. (2014, April 24). ”Stanford Study Finds Walking Improves Creativity.” Retrieved May 14, 2017, retrieved from: http://news.stanford.edu/2014/04/24/walking-vs-sitting-042414/