If you’re sitting down and reading this, you’re at increased risk for diabetes, weight gain, depression, cardiovascular illness, dementia, and a few different types of cancer.

You can change that by limiting your sitting to no more than 30 minutes at a time.

Sitting for prolonged periods compromises circulation. Tissues are less efficiently oxygenated. Joints stiffen and muscles weaken, both leading to compromised mobility and reduced flexibility.

We can mitigate this by taking frequent breaks. Standing up and moving around every 30 minutes or so. This is pretty tedious and probably impractical for most, but it’s an option.

More feasible (but less optimal) is to make sure that at least some part of everyday is set aside for bit of full-body movement. Here at the Camp One homestead in the Sierra foothills, we’ve got our chores. Feeding and watering the animals can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes over the course of the day with movement that includes bending and lifting and twisting and squatting and pushing and pulling, all while walking up and down our hilly acreage. It’s not perfect, but it’s consistent and that’s the important thing.

Not everybody has land to work. That’s fine. Do yoga. Go for long walks while listening to an audiobook. Get rid of any furniture that incentivizes extended lounging. Understand the problem well enough, either by reading up or falling apart, and you’ll put together your own solution, God willing.

And when you get some time off of work or school or parenting or whatever obligates you to other than yourself, go hiking.

This short little article from the Cleveland Clinic frames hiking as the absolute antidote to all of the ills associated with prolonged sitting. Hikers can look forward to an improved mood, better sleep, a reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes, and weight loss. It is, simply put, the best thing for you.

We recently went for a hike, the first time in a while. Living in the country, going hiking seems, in some ways, redundant. When we lived in the city, there was a certain urban claustrophobia that would periodically drive us into the field. We would plan and travel and really try and make the most of any opportunity to get outside and go for a nice, long hike.

But all of those things that would call to us, the trees, the rocks, the water, the fresh air, the smell of scrub and earth, and the speckled sunlight broken up by the forest canopy, all of that is right here at Camp One. We don’t need to go looking for it.

That is our life now.

It wasn’t always, and it may not forever be, but it is now.

Why then should we bother going hiking?

It’s a question that is best answered through experience.

Hiking is movement through mystery. Even a familiar trail will change dramatically through the various seasons. Each time, you will meet people, wildlife, and all manner of botanicals that you have not encountered in any of your previous forays. The elements change the trail in unpredictable ways with rain introducing flooding and mud, wind littering the path with leaves and twigs and the occasional fallen tree, and erosion spilling rocks across the path.

The ground is textured, canted, beveled, and uneven, forcing your feet, toes, and legs to accommodate. Minimalist footwear may allow for a more acute experience of this, initially uncomfortable, but forcing modifications to gait and foot placement that can go a long way toward enhancing balance and endurance.

More rigorous hikes may include a bit of scrambling, challenging us to use our hands in order to more securely climb over rockfalls or down a very steep and rutted slope. We’ll get dirty in the process, taking in vital minerals and boosting our immune system in response. And all of it is great fun without the expense of a gym membership.

Dust and Tribe believes that most things are better shared. Find a hiking buddy or join a hiking group. There are many, some catering to women, to families, and to elders, and almost all of them are free. Another way to approach this while also deepening our relationship with creation is to explore hiking adjacent activities like birding or mushroom hunting or even Frisbee golf. Each of these gets us moving outside and opens us up to new experiences that can go a long way toward revitalizing our bodies and perspectives.

Got any favorite hikes? How have you personally benefitted from hiking? What is keeping you from doing more hiking?

Let us know in the comments below.

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