Why We Hike Naked (Part 2, Reasons 4 - 6)

Another way of looking at this list is - if you are trying to convince someone to try hiking in the buff, what reasons would you give them? I might literally make a flyer out of this with pros and cons (w/ mitigations). I have at least one place I would drop a few off.

4.Awareness of your environment. When hiking naked, you will likely slow down. By wearing heavy hiking boots, pants, a shirt, and who knows what else, you can pretty much just plow ahead and through whatever is in front of you. If you are naked, you often need to be more deliberate, which unless you need to be somewhere, is a benefit. You connect with nature better if you slow down and become more aware of your environment. I wear minimalist walking shoes (Five Fingers usually) on my naked hikes further increasing contact with nature. I would go barefoot if I could, but I am not there yet.

5.Need to cool down? This is one of my favorites. Hiking naked and need to cool down on a hot day? Hop into a creek or lake. No need to stop and strip down, just hop right in. On a hot day in the spring, a snow bath is incredibly refreshing. This is so refreshing and effortless if you are naked, that you dont need to be too hot to justify it. If the sun is out it only takes a couple of minutes to warm up again. This is another reason I like hiking in Five Fingers, if they get wet, they are fine. I usually, just hike right through marshes and streams without worrying about my shoes.

6.Another evolutionary adaptation. Vitamin D is vitally important. The list of issues associated with deficiency is huge and includes, skeletal diseases, metabolic disorders, cancer, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune diseases including most likely MS, infections, and cognitive disorders. In modern society, most people do not get enough without supplements in their food, e.g., milk, or vitamins. Yet, it is one of the easiest vitamins to get for free. Just step out into the sun and let your body make it as we evolved to do. And there is no question about if the vitamin D you make is finding its way to your blood stream and if it is the right form of D. This obviously applies to more than hiking naked, but it is one more benefit to enjoying a healthy past time unclothed. Of course, there is a flip side to this skin cancer.

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