Hobbies can help ease stress and boost well-being. So can exercise and communing with nature. Combine the 3, and you may get triple the mental health benefits.
Taking up a hobby of any kind offers a host of mental health perks. Hobbies, especially meaningful ones, can spark creativity and satisfy curiosity. They can also stimulate your mind. They can even help ease stress and depression, while boosting your mood. If you want to enhance these health perks even further, choose a hobby that also gets you moving and out in nature.
Research suggests that time spent in nature can help ease stress. When you spend that time in nature being active or exercising, you may gain even more mental health benefits. An active outdoor hobby can also lessen the amount of time you spend sitting, and it can help boost your fitness. If you already have a hobby that gets you moving and connects you with nature, that’s great. If not, think about trying one of these:
Make your hobby an outdoor adventure
Think about trying hiking, backpacking, or camping in your local backcountry. Or think about mountain biking, canoeing, kayaking, surfing, sailing, or rock climbing. These hobbies, if you are new to them, are safest if you take some training classes first. At the very least, you may want to tag along with someone well versed in that sport. In general, these kinds of adventures are safer in groups or with a friend or family member.
Make nature your classroom
You might enjoy a hobby that gives your brain, as well as your body, a good workout. You could try birdwatching. You could learn about native plants. Or you could hike to a mountain peak for an overnight campout and some stargazing.
If you live near the ocean, you might explore the tide pools. If you live near a desert, you might enjoy hiking around and identifying rocks or geological features. Or you might enjoy looking for artifacts at an old ruin or archaeological site.
Try geocaching as your new hobby
This free outdoor game blends high-tech tracking with active treasure hunting. The goal is to find a geocache, also known as a cache. This is typically a box with small rewards inside. Caches are often hidden in parks and off hiking trails. To find them, you download location coordinates onto a GPS device (like your smartphone) and then walk, bike, hike, or paddle to the loot. It’s a fun outdoor game that makes for a great workout, too.
Give back to Mother Nature
You might join a local group and volunteer to help clean up a river, beach, or park. You could help build or maintain trails. You could try plogging—a combo of jogging and picking up litter. Or you might join a beautification group in your neighborhood that landscapes and plants trees and flowers. You could also volunteer to work on a community vegetable garden.
Think outside the hobby box
Try something novel. If you have a dog, look into agility training for your pooch. (You’ll both get a workout!) Or think about kite flying, archery, building sandcastles, or doing sidewalk chalk drawings. If you have a yard or a garden, there might be some outdoor improvement projects you would enjoy, like building a gazebo, a fire pit, or new flower beds.
No matter the active outdoor hobby you choose, you’ll enjoy plenty of fresh air and sunshine. You’ll be moving more and having fun. And you’ll reap even greater mental health rewards by experiencing the soothing sights, sounds, and smells of nature in the bargain.
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This article was written by Gail Olson, edited by Nora Byrne, and clinically reviewed by Elizabeth Thompson, MPH, RDN.