29/09/2024
Don't be put off by the weather forecasts...
It's easy to look at the weather forecast and see a rainy day as a reason for being indoors but do you know how much good a walk in the rain can do for you?
A downpour is the perfect time to walk – The pounding of raindrops causes plants, trees and soil to release sweet-smelling compounds which then mingle and combine in the air we breathe. The Scottish writer, Nan Shepherd, loved walking after rainfall, noting that birch trees released a perfume “fruity like old brandy”. Studies suggest that inhaling these compounds improves our mood, while the abundance of negative air ions – created as water and air molecules collide making a molecule with an extra charge – can improve respiratory health and immunity. When Austrian scientists ran a series of experiments in the Alps, they were stunned to find that participants walking in heavily ionised air had higher levels of a vital antibody located in the mucosal lining of the mouth, nose and gut. The researchers speculated that this bounteous antibody accounted for the participants’ strengthened immunity and amplified lung capacity.
So put on your walking shoes and a waterproof coat and take advantage of the purer air and the complex array of scents that accompany a downpour. Seek out forests, where negative air ions linger for longer. In misty woodlands, negative air ions are twice as abundant as on open land, so get up early and make the most of autumn’s final morning mists.
Rain changes everything: touch, sound, smells, but most of all it changes what we see. On a rainy walk, tree trunks glitter and gleam, leaves sparkle, petals glisten.
If that isn't enough to get you out walking in the rain, studies suggest that we burn more calories while taking exercise in the rain too!
Grab your walking shoes, raincoats and poles and live your life regardless of the rainy forecast.
British Nordic Walking