I’m sure you’ve heard by now that those of us who sit for long hours during the day raise our risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and early death.
I generally spend time every day exercising in some way before settling down at my desk to work. Clearly that’s not enough.
Those who engage in regular physical activity but still spend a large proportion of their day in sedentary activity were found, on average, to be 30% less likely to die of any cause in a given period than were those who get little to no exercise. But even those who punctuate a long day of sitting with a vigorous workout were estimated to be 16% more likely to die of any cause in a given time than were those who do not sit for long.
It’s time to get up from that desk and head outside for a hike.
Hiking is such a simple way to enjoy the great outdoors alone, with your family or with friends.
You don’t have to hike Mount Everest. Hiking can be as simple as a 20 minute walk on a nearby trail or as challenging as a full day hike up the side of a mountain.
If you’re getting hiking push-back from your family try using one of these apps to persuade your kids to enjoy hiking and the outdoors as much as you do.
Geocaching (FREE)
This is our favorite way to explore on a hike or when traveling. Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location. There are Geocaches hidden all around the world. The treasure could be a toy, pencil, stickers or something else . We’ve also hidden a few Geocaches of our own. You will need to create an account HERE to play.
iNaturalist (FREE)
iNaturalist provides a place to record and organize nature findings, meet other nature enthusiasts, and learn about the natural world. Once you log in to the app you’re able to record what you see along the hike.
Bird ID app (FREE)
See a bird that you don’t recognize? This app will ask you five simple questions about a bird you are trying to identify and then come up with a list of possible matches in North America.
MyNature Animal Tracks ($1.99)
MyNature Animal Tracks will help you identify animal tracks on your hike. Search by track size and shape in seven different illustrated categories to identify over 46 animals across North America. You can also access digital images of animals and listen to each animal’s vocalization.
How do you make hiking fun for the entire family?
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photo credit: Trailmix.Net via photopin cc
