Health Digest Survey: What's People's Favorite Way To Exercise Outdoors?

After spending the bulk of your day indoors, there's nothing more invigorating than stepping outside and feeling the fresh air and sunshine hitting your body. Experts at WebMD note that getting out and about can benefit both our physical and mental health. Not only can spending time in nature reduce anxiety, support our immune system health, as well as boost our quality of sleep, creativity, and focus, but the great outdoors also gives us a wide range of options when it comes to different forms of physical activity.

To find out how most people prefer to exercise outdoors, we posed the question to 612 readers of Health Digest. Between six different answer choices, response options ranged from biking to swimming and everything in between. With the least amount of votes was recreational sports. Only 23 people selected this answer option, making up only 3.76% of the total responses submitted. Biking earned 39 votes, accounting for 6.37% of total answer responses. Trailing close behind was swimming with 42 votes. Only 6.86% of respondents selected this answer as their favorite way to get in a workout outdoors.

Votes began to climb significantly afterward, with running coming in third place as people's most preferred way to exercise while outside. This answer earned 61 votes, making up nearly 10% of the total answers submitted. Women's Health Magazine notes that running can potentially cut one's risk of heart disease by almost half, strengthen our bones and joints, and reduce stress, amongst other health benefits. However, the top two answers among respondents came down between walking and hiking. Raking in 84 votes, hiking came in second place, accounting for 13.73% of total survey responses. Experts at the Cleveland Clinic state that hiking not only has the potential to lower our blood pressure, but can also promote balance, boost sleep, and reduce one's risk for obesity.

In first place, walking won out by a landslide as people's favorite way to exercise outdoors. With 363 answer selections, 59.31% of survey respondents voted in favor of walking. According to the Mayo Clinic, regularly taking a brisk walk outside can help increase energy levels, manage type 2 diabetes, boost memory and cognitive function, improve muscle endurance, support cardiovascular fitness, and more. No matter your preferred form of outdoor exercise, it's clear that getting some fresh air and sunshine can do the body a world of good.