Trails are Medicine

Trails are awesome. And that's not just opinion, it's been proven time and again by multiple scientific studies, a few of which are collected below. Having a library of this information could be good ammunition if anyone ever questions spending time, money, or other resources on trails. Trails are not just awesome, they're medicine.

"Conclusions: Greenspace exposure is associated with numerous health benefits in intervention and observational studies. These results are indicative of a beneficial influence of greenspace on a wide range of health outcomes.  ...  Our findings should encourage practi- tioners and policymakers to give due regard to how they can create, maintain, and improve existing accessible greenspaces in deprived areas. Furthermore the development of strategies and interventions for the utilisation of such greenspaces by those who stand to benefit the most."

"Findings suggest that visiting natural environments can be beneficial in reducing both physical and psychological stress levels, with visitors to a natural environment reporting significantly lower levels of stress than their counterparts visiting a more urbanized outdoor setting or indoor exercise facility."

"There's something healthy about having nature either in our presence or us being present in nature," says Dr. Brent Bauer, a general internal medicine physician at Mayo Clinic. "There's actually a lot of research on this topic. So it's no longer just, 'Nature sounds good.' We know it's actually really good. Those studies range from evaluating people who are in a city and then taken into a forest. What happens to blood pressure? What happens to heart rate? And in many, many studies, we do much better in the natural environment."

"This review has documented the increasing body of evidence in support of Nature-based interventions (NBIs) as effective tools to improve mental, physical, and cognitive health outcomes, and highlighted key factors that improve engagement with the natural world."

"If you’re able to, get back to nature to energize your mind and body. Research has shown spending 120 minutes a week in nature improves health and well-being." 

"One large survey found that people who spent at least two hours a week in nature — whether in one longer outing or in multiple smaller chunks of time — were more likely to positively describe their health and well-being than were people who spent no time in nature." 

"People with safe access to parks and recreation facilities tend to be more physically active than individuals with barriers to access. People are more likely to walk or bike to parks or recreational facilities if the individuals live nearby. In addition, people need to feel safe getting there and while using the park or recreational facilities."

"Creating or modifying environments to make it easier for people to walk or bike is a strategy that not only helps increase physical activity but can also make communities better places to live."

"Not only do communities with high quality trail infrastructure see health improvements in their citizens, those health improvements translate into real medical savings for those communities."

And if that's not enough, here's more:






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