Benefits of walking in the rain for health and wellbeing is a wonderous miraculous thing.
Its a great mood booster, stress reliever and supercharges your health and wellbeing.
Er no thanks, I’m assuming is probably your first thought when you read this title. Please bear with me on this and read a little further and hopefully you’ll change your mind.
There is no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing,
which is true, and I strongly believe that once you’ve felt how much better you feel after the drizzly walk you will want to do it again. You see walking in the woodland during rainfall allows you to reap many health benefits.
There is a wonderful word Petrichor, which means the smell of rain. To be a little more accurate it’s the name of the oils from the natural bacteria, Geosmin that are released from the soil once the rain droplets hit the ground and disturb it. Soil releases microbes called Geosmin, tiny bacterial particles that are not harmful at all. It is these tiny, microscopic particles that help maintain our health.
This natural cocktail bursts into the air and hits our olfactory system boosting our mood, releasing stress and tension. Some scientists speculate that us humans have a built in positive emotion towards rain, as it would have symbolized the end of the drought season, cooling and refreshing us from the heat.
Excellent news for the crops and brining fresh water.
See how it would have really boosted people into a positive vibe.
The sound of rain is so soothing to hear, its calming once you tune into it. Whether you’re under an umbrella hearing it pitter patter or as it bounces off your hood. A gentle down pour is very refreshing if you’re up for letting hit your face or just holding your hands out and let the droplets trickly through your fingers and then bounce and be absorbed by the forest floor.
Its mellow rhythm as it descends through the canopy.
Its Mother Nature’s own white noise which helps to reduce stress and anxiety. Especially for those working in high stress environments such as nursing homes, care homes, people in call centres and corporate work, constantly in meetings hitting targets and deadlines.
The soothing sound can be a very welcoming mental break and great for staff wellbeing, moral and retention.
You could always hold short team meetings on a rainy walk! No, ok we’ll leave that one.
Of course we add in the element of being outdoors, which is so beneficial, getting away from the dry air of air conditioned buildings, being away from four walls. Being able to see the sky, feel the dampness in the air, helps improve our thinking, our working memory and clearer decision making.
Being in nature helps boost the immune system, the air quality improves due to the rain helping to clear the air pollutants. There are scientists who put it down to negative irons that are produce during a downpour (see link at the end for a brief summary from BBC Wales)
Walking in the rain could also help you to burn calories! Has that piqued your interest? It did mine when I first read about that side of it.
You’d probably walk a bit faster if you were out for a walk during a down pour, so that correlates to being more active, raising heart rate, getting a bit of cardio exercise in and loosing a bit of weight. Although a slower pace to really let the rain sooth and restore your hectic mind is a much better idea. Of course keeping yourself warm, dry and comfortable are the most important steps to make it more enjoyable and memorable.
Obvious clothing being:
Waterproof coat and preferably trouser and shoes/boots.
Umbrella if no waterproof coat.
Its always better to wear too many layers for warmth. Easier to take a jumper off.
and that’s it your ready to go.
Oh, and if you’ve driven to your walking location, take spare footwear to change into after so you don’t put mud in your footwell.
Right so you’re all dressed up in all the right gear, now what?
Well, walk much slower that you would normally. Don’t wear your earphones, that’s just totally defeating the object. Don’t even have your phone in your hand, in fact, have it on silent.
🌧️Start to notice the sound of the rain hitting you, it will sound louder maybe if you’re wearing something on your head. Stand still, deep breath and allow yourself to become accustomed to the new sound.
🌧️Listen to the sound as it taps the tree canopy, does its volume soften or increase?
Is it splashing and making puddles?
Or silently trickling down the trunks and the tree bark.
🌧️ The texture under foot, how’s that changing from path to soil, to grass.
🌧️ Colours changing from light coloured tree bark to darker almost black maybe. Are things now glistening with water, droplets hanging on the ends of petals.
🌧️ Notice all the varying differences.
🌧️Feel if textures have change, temperature of things.
And don’t forget to keep breathing in those vital energy compounds in the air, with slow deep breaths. Really refresh those lungs.
Your sleep may well improve as well as your mood, your thoughts and your overall wellbeing.
Will you now give it a go?
Do let me know if you do I’d love to hear your experiences . You can let me know via the contact page https://theforestbathingcompany.com/contact-us/
Of course if you’ve like to book onto one of my Forest Bathing session either two or one hour experiences you can find out more info here
htts://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51157ep524o
Image credit – wal_172619 on pixabay
