A growing body of research supports what so many trail running enthusiasts, myself included, have experienced themselves: logging your miles in nature does wonders for mental health. There’s something magical about the trails that promotes balance while seemingly melting angst and sadness away. Just last weekend, I went to Yosemite National Park on Saturday night with a racing mind. I returned on Sunday, 18 miles in my legs later, with a sense of calmness and clarity—something that previous runs in the city did not bring about.

A new article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences sheds light on why this might be the case. For the study, Stanford University researchers set out to learn more about the impact of physical activity in nature on rumination, or an unrelenting cycle of negative thoughts and worry associated with increased risk of depression and other mental illnesses. (If you’ve ever gotten “stuck” in a vicious cycle where one negative thought leads to another, that’s rumination—and it’s not fun.)

One group of study participants completed a brisk 90-minute walk in a natural setting; the other group took their walk, of the same duration and intensity, in an urban setting. Upon returning to the lab, the nature-walkers not only self-reported decreased rumination, but fMRI scans of their brains also showed decreased neural activity in an area of the brain associated with mental illness (the subgenual prefrontal cortex). The walk literally changed their brain. The urban-walkers, however, experienced neither of these effects.

“It seems that there is something about physical activity outdoors, in a natural setting, that decreases worry, anxiety, and other negative thoughts,” says Greg Bratman, lead author of the study. He noted that thanks to new fMRI technology, “We could actually see these changes in the brain. It was fascinating.”

Source
Competitor.com

See also: 7 Essential Tips for Trail Running

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