Does jogging in forests foster greater weight loss than anywhere else?

January 23, 2017 Ashley 0 Comments

We know that running’s great for weight loss.

But can sweating it out amongst an arboreal audience make for even more pound droppage?

The experts say it certainly does. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thrilled to read about this recently. See, anyone who knows me will say, “Ashley loves running.” Why? Because I do it every day – twice a day. But you know what? They’re wrong. I hate running. Or, at least, I hate running on concrete or flat surfaces. What I love, rather, is running on trails. It’s a transformative experience that blisses you right out. A sweaty zen session that can’t aptly be captured by language. A transcendent situation that I’ve never been able to scientifically explain the nature of… until now. Thanks to the Japanese.

According to them, this bi-daily near-religious practice’ve mine’s got a special, meditative moniker:

Forest bathing.

By going out and marinating in nature for a bit, it’s said that stress levels get reduced, and even your chance of cancer acquisition drastically reduces. Even just going for a stroll’ll do it. And if a calm walk can reduce stress, guess how effective and rejuvenating a cardio sesh out there might be? But, ya know what always bothered the nagging scientist which resides within me? The lingering, vexing question: Why? Why does it reduce stress? What’s so special about being in the company of nothing but foliage and woodland creatures?

(Aside from the fact that your scantily clad, sweaty sartorial selection’s not on display?)

Well, according to this thing I never knew, sucking in some forest oxygen from the woods, comes with a whopping dose of something called phytoncides. These are essential oils that emanate off the wood, into the air, and eventually make landfall in your respiratory tract. And what do they do for you? Well, thanks to their antimicrobial properties, they can help up your immunity. In fact, a 2007 study done on these badboys demonstrated their correlation with anti-carcinogenic properties. The reason trees have ’em is to guard their bark from rot – or from getting gobbled up by bugs or furry things. But, once we’ve got ’em in us, they’re said to enhance our natural killer cells (the cancer and tumor smiting spartans of your immune system).

(When you’re doing a nice, steady jog, you suck down even more of those badboys while burning calories…)

And what does that all mean for health and weight loss? Well, when your immune system’s functioning in top form, you don’t feel too tired or run down to run, you’re less likely to make poor dietary choices, and you’re less likely to fall ill – and thusly off the fitness bandwagon altogether (by eating even more poorly, or calling it quits on the physical end – after too many necessary rest days). So, from now on, my fellow runners, bump the gym off your list. Hit the woods in lieu. ’cause when your soles hit the soil, you’ll soothe your soul and cortisol levels alike. And anytime you can do that, that means you’re playing fitness lumberjack to that towering scale number that keeps soaring like a sequoia.