I believe sports is something which I think is essential and necessary for everybody who wants to live a healthier life, reducing stress, increasing your cardiovascular and pulmonary capacity, and avoiding, or at least reducing, the risk of suffering of depression and anxiety.
The natural environments are a privilege that we have nowadays, which can be of a great use.
Doing sport outdoors allows us to disconnect from the hustle and stress that we have in the city. It allows you to breathe cleaner air and you can enjoy the sounds that nature has to offer, such as the birds singing in the countryside or the sound of the waves in the sea.
If you add to all the good things about natural environments the possibility of doing the sport you like or feel like doing, I think it is much more beneficial than in any other enclosed place. Although I can do many different sports, what I practise the most is swimming and yoga, my favourite place to do it is at the beach. I love swimming at the beach because you can move around wherever you want, it's not like a swimming pool where you just go back and forth the same way. When I'm there, I really like to walk along the shore because you can see the same natural environment from different perspectives or discover coves you didn't know about and I really enjoy it, plus walking on the sand makes you put more effort into your legs and therefore makes them stronger. When I do yoga and breathing exercises on the on the beach, I use it as a meditation to totally disconnect from everything and focus only on myself. I feel so much better when I finish my exercise at the beach, then when I do it at home, listening to my neighbour downstairs in the background, for example.
Although you can do exercises on the beach individually, when I go with friends we also do them together, often unintentionally, like when you play paddle on the shore, you can spend hours with my friends playing and don't even realise that you are strengthening both legs and arms. Just like volleyball, which is not only a sport in which you move your whole body, it makes teamwork and companionship easier, as well as socialising and getting to know different people.
In conclusion, I believe that doing sport in natural environments benefits you both physically and mentally, as well as getting out of your routine because if you like hiking or swimming, among many others, you can choose a different place every day.
Adriana Santiago
Translated by Léo Hervé
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