Does walking 20 miles a day with a 1 to 2 thousand foot elevation gain for about 120 days in a row increase health and promote a longer lifespan?
All sorts of longevity studies suggest that this may be the case and my subjective personal experience tells me this is true, but I have no way to measure it.
If it were possible to physically measure the effects of a long distance hike it might become possible to identify ways to improve it and make it easier for others to enjoy these benefits – on and off the trail.
I would like to offer my upcoming 3rd thru-hike of the 2,650 mile long Pacific Crest Trail for a legitimate researcher to study. Am open to some level of experimentation, mostly in improved diet, and possibly with life extension products.
Am 63 years old. In basically good health and physical fitness. Maintain a reasonably healthy diet. I am fully geared up, have the trip planned out and am able to finance it out of pocket. I am not looking for someone to subsidize the hike unless time or costs are increased beyond what my estimate of a normal hike would require.
In the event that no researcher is interested, the following is a list of benefits which I associate with long distance hiking. Readers of this forum are encouraged to comment on it and add to it.
1) This sort of walking doubles and sometimes triples the demand for calories. Due to backpack weight restrictions, it is impossible to carry as much food as a hiker would like to have. As a result, hikers sort of starve their way to the next resupply point. Within a month this becomes a semi-permanent condition called hiker hunger. Is this a kind of calorie restricted diet?
2) Walking seems like the perfect form of exercise. At 20 miles a day plus elevation gain, does this produce an equivalent to the Jack LaLanne level of exercises he thought was needed for health and longevity?
3) Seems like all of the automatic functions such as digestion, blood circulation, perspiration, breathing and etc appear to operate better than normal all day long. While walking, it is also easy to monitor body functions and balance things out when needed, such as resting or drinking water or taking in nutrition or eliminating.
4) Being outdoors all day long in wide temperature and weather variations, surrounded by panoramic views, listening to nature sing, breathing freshly produced oxygen, drinking unadulterated water from the source and etc have long been known for its health benefits. What happens when this becomes the default norm over a 5 month period?
5) Seems like most stress comes from toxic people, life burning cultural situations and financial - political chaos. On the trail, its pretty much all gone. This alone would add years to anyone’s lifespan. How is this sort of thing measured?
6) The daily hike frequently becomes a kind of walking meditation. I particularly enjoy how the avalanche of accumulated experience almost automatically sorts itself out so that the truly important matters are then easier to think about. Is there a link between disorganized, undigested memories and physical brain degeneration?
7) After a full day on the trail, hikers lay their exhausted, sore bodies down to get 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night and arise in the morning at very high levels of recovery. Sleeping directly on the ground appears to have the same effect that household earthing gear produces (duh). How to measure this?
8) Obviously there is more. Obviously each of these will have some positive benefit. But what is the effect of all of it together? Can these benefits be carried over from the trail into ‘real life’? (don't get me started) Can these benefits help non hikers?
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