Landscapes seem to speak to us at different times in our life. They reflect our moods and thoughts, prompt new insights and can even spur imaginative solutions to nagging problems. The question is, why? Research is beginning to unpick this. For my new book, The Walking Cure, I talked to psychologists, neuroscientists and even marine biologists, and it turned out that there is really interesting data on how terrain, places, spaces and landscapes affect us as we move through them.
We tend to get in a rut with our walks. But, in fact, there are many places you can walk that will prompt very different responses, emotions and thoughts. So when you next hear a landscape speaking to you, whether that’s the coast or the desert or the mountains, it may be that your response is partly biological. It may be that you need something only that particular space can provide.
HEAD TO THE MOUNTAINS IF…
You’re feeling confused, depressed or need to regain perspective
Sometimes, problems can feel completely insurmountable. When you go to the hills or mountains and you realise the smallness of everything, that can be very helpful.
The first time I felt a landscape calling to me was when I was about 20, at university. My grandfather had died and I was going through a difficult time. I kept feeling a yearning to be in mountains. I’d grown up by the sea, so this was unusual, and the calling came completely out of the blue. My university said I could take a year out, so I spent three months walking in the Himalayas… and everything seemed to resolve.
When I started drilling into the research, I discovered that at altitude, we’re quite different – our bodies produce different hormones. We produce EPO – a hormone that’s made in our kidneys – and while EPO is designed to help the body compensate for the lack of oxygen at altitude, it’s also been discovered to have antidepressant qualities. So it was no coincidence that I found myself feeling better – happier and calmer. Our bodies typically start to release EPO at elevations of 1,800m and above – although we’re all different and respond differently to altitude. And, in fact, a weekend is all it takes to feel the benefits: a study of Alpine walking found positive effects on psychological resilience after a mere two days.
HEAD TO THE COAST IF…
You’re struggling to sleep – or you’re feeling grief, loss or sadness
Many people experience a calling to head to the sea. In an unofficial survey I carried out, the coast was the number one place that people felt a yearning towards. Studies show that we find coastal walks beneficial – people who’ve walked by the sea sleep for 47 minutes longer than people who have had the same walk at the same speed in a field or in a green space. Why? Well, it might be due to the fact that when you inhale sea air, it contains miniscule droplets of seawater – rich in iodine, magnesium, calcium and potassium. When you walk by the sea, you’re actually inhaling magnesium, which has been shown in many studies to improve the quality and quantity of your sleep and induce feelings of calm.
Then there’s the fact that your body is working at an accelerated rate during a beach walk, over dunes, sand and pebbles. Your body and brain produces a cascade of biochemicals – hormones, neurotransmitters, proteins, metabolites, peptides, lipids and acids – that can dramatically affect your wellbeing. These molecules are so powerfully life-enhancing, scientists call them ‘hope molecules’.
HEAD TO THE WOODLANDS IF…
You’re feeling angry or depressed
Japanese researchers were the first to identify the extraordinary effects of woodland on human health, which includes reduced blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormones, and increased activity of parasympathetic (rest and digest) nerves, and reduced activity of sympathetic (fight or flight) nerves. Fascinating new studies reveal that it may only be very old trees and woodlands that alter us, both psychologically and physiologically. Older trees produce large amounts of a compound called phytoncides, shown in several studies to lower our cortisol rates, to reduce inflammation and to lower our blood pressure. That’s why being in woodlands and forests feels so calming, and is a really good way of dissipating anger.
HEAD TO A CANAL TOWPATH OR DISUSED RAILWAY LINE IF…
You’re searching for solutions
Essentially, you’re looking for somewhere where you don’t need to look at your phone, you don’t need to follow a Google red dot or look at a map – you can just get on the path and follow it. Find a towpath or disused railway line and simply step on to the track and follow it, for as long as you need. Knowing you won’t get lost, that you don’t need to navigate, map-read or do anything but walk frees the brain of any drop of the chemicals now thought to inhibit imaginative thought.
HEAD TO A LAKE IF…
You’re feeling inner turmoil and an urgent need for calm.
The most effective way to reduce stress is to be near a big body of still water – such as a lake. Studies show that we find that really calming, and that it takes just three minutes of gazing at that lake as you walk alongside it to dramatically reduce levels of stress.
Nowhere is as lavishly light as a lake, partly thanks to the sun glitter created when the sun hits the surface of clean water. Sun glitter is made up of thousands of tiny glints, each of which is caused by a splinter of sunbeam reflecting at exactly the right angle to send light into our eyes. As breeze or currents cause the water to move, so the glitter pattern changes, providing endless light and visual stimulation. Recent studies show that light blunts the amygdala, the brain region often referred to as our threat-detection centre or our emotion and fear hub.
