Why Do The Hills Make Us Feel So Good?

Overview

You know the feeling. You set off a bit flat, head full of work, bills and the washing up. A couple of hours later you’re sat on a summit with a flask of tea, and somehow everything feels lighter. Nothing has changed at home, but something has changed in you.

Most people who walk in the hills have felt it. Science is now catching up and finding good reasons for it. There’s no single answer, more a handful of things working together. Here are the ones we think matter most.

We Were Born To Be Outside

For almost all of human history, outside was simply where we lived. Our ancestors, and close cousins like the Neanderthals before them, spent hundreds of thousands of years walking, foraging and hunting across open country. Most of us still carry a little Neanderthal DNA today.

Towns and cities are a very recent idea by comparison, just a few thousand years old. Offices, screens and spending most of the day indoors are newer still. In evolutionary terms that’s the blink of an eye, nowhere near long enough for our bodies and brains to catch up.

So when you’re out on a hillside, moving on your own two feet and reading the land around you, you’re doing what we were shaped to do. Scientists even have a name for our built-in pull towards nature: biophilia, meaning “love of living things”. Seen that way, the calm you feel up there isn’t a treat. It’s a bit like coming home.

One Step In Front Of The Other

On a steep climb, your world shrinks to the next few metres. Where to put your foot. The rhythm of your breathing. The crunch of the path. There isn’t much room left for worrying about Monday.

That’s being present, the thing mindfulness apps try to teach, and walking gives it to you for free. The steady pace of a long walk is soothing in itself, and lots of walkers find their thoughts untangle on their own somewhere along the way.

Researchers call part of this attention restoration. Screens and busy streets grab our attention and wear it out. Nature holds it gently, with clouds moving, water running and wind in the grass, which gives the tired part of the brain a proper rest.

Leave the noise in the valley. Take the quiet home.

Big Views, Small Worries

Stand on a summit and look out over miles of hills, and your problems tend to shrink to their proper size. That feeling of wonder has a name too: awe. Studies suggest awe makes us feel calmer, kinder and more connected to the world around us. It reminds us we’re part of something much bigger, and that can be a real relief.

Your Body Joins In

Walking uphill is exercise, even if it doesn’t feel like the gym. Moving your body releases feel-good chemicals and helps burn off stress. It’s also one of the best-proven ways to ease low mood and anxiety.

You get daylight too, which helps set your body clock, and after a big day you’ll usually sleep like a log. Better sleep on its own can make a huge difference to how you feel.

The Nod On The Trail

Something odd happens on a hill path. People who’d never say a word to each other in town suddenly say hello, swap route tips and share a laugh about the weather. There’s a friendliness up there that’s hard to find anywhere else.

Walking with friends is good for you as well. Some of the best conversations happen side by side on a path, and a long walk gives them plenty of time to come out.

And loneliness is a big part of poor mental health, so these small moments of connection really count.

A Break From The Screen

Up in the hills, the phone signal often drops off and the notifications stop. For once, nobody needs anything from you. Just a few hours without the constant ping of messages and news can leave your head feeling clearer than it has in weeks.

Little Wins, Big Feelings

Reaching a summit feels good. You set out to do something hard and you did it. Ticking off a hill on a list like the Ethels, Wainwrights, Munros or Sylvias adds to that sense of achievement, and gives you a reason to get out again next weekend.

What The Research Says

A large study of around 20,000 people in England found that those who spent at least two hours a week in nature reported noticeably better health and wellbeing. It didn’t matter whether that was one long walk or several short ones. Another study at Stanford University found that a walk in nature, rather than along a busy road, quietened the kind of repetitive negative thinking linked to depression.

These studies show strong links rather than final proof, but the picture is consistent enough that doctors in the UK now give out “green prescriptions”, time outdoors prescribed alongside other care.

Getting Started

• Start small. A local park or canal towpath counts.
• Aim for two hours a week. Spread it however suits you.
• Leave the headphones at home. Listen to the birds and the wind.
• Bring a friend. Or say hello to someone on the path.
• Pick a list. Our hill maps have a route for every hill.

The hills aren’t a cure for everything. If you’re struggling, please talk to someone. Our Head for the Hills page has free tools and places to get support. But for most of us, a few hours outside is one of the simplest, cheapest and most enjoyable things we can do for our heads.

See you on the trail.