Walking in the snow to enjoy yourself more

Who knows if among all those who walked, snowshoeed and skied during the long weekend of the Immaculate Conception in the mountains, some will have had the perception of feeling more satisfied, happier with their bodies, once they return to the hotel or at home. Because instead there are those who have tried to understand how snowy environments influence the image of one’s bodydiscovering that spending some time between a snowy forest it helps to appreciate yourself more, to like yourself more. All the more reason to enjoy the outdoors.

The benefits of walking, swimming, running in the middle of parks, woods and lakes have been talked about for some time now, and the evidence on the subject is accumulating, to the point that there are already those who have launched health care programs that provide for the prescription of “doses of nature”. The research that today sees researchers led by as protagonists Viren Swami of Anglia Ruskin University fits into this context, but within a sub-chapter, so to speak, that of the perception of one’s own body. The group of Swamiin fact, he had already observed how natural environments, and in particular the blue ones of rivers and coastal areas, even if only savored through images, improved the perception of one’s body.

This time the researchers, in collaboration with the University of Silesia in Poland, tried to understand if the same would also work for a forest. And to do so, they enlisted 87 young women and asked them to walk in the snow Cyganski Las forestin Poland, for about forty minutes, recording before and after the perceptions relating to the appreciation of their body, their level of “connection” with nature and self-compassion. Back from the walk in the snow, the image of one’s body was perceived better, we liked each other better in substance. This was especially observed among those who showed higher levels of self-compassion. But that’s not all: for the first time, the researchers add, the effect was observed in groups and not at an individual level and in a snowy environment.