S03E08 - Are You Pining for Better Health - Or Just Breathing It In?

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Close your eyes for a moment, or don't if you're driving. Picture this, you're standing at the edge of a forest. The air is cool, faintly moist, it smells of pine resin and damp earth. Your shoulders drop before you've even taken a single step. That, right there. That's not just atmosphere, that's chemistry, that's biology.

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Welcome to Scaled to Fit. Fit in your 50s.

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Just show up, make a plan, feel stronger than you can. Small steps lead to victory, you're rewriting history. Scaled to Fit. Fit in your 50s with Marko Lindgren. Come on and join us.

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In the podcast I have been talking quite a lot about walking, being an avid walker, but so far we've stayed in an urban environment. Outside the city I've gone with my gravel bike through forests and narrow paths. And that has been excellent.

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What about leaving the bike behind and going to the woods just on foot? I must confess that I have somewhat of an innate dislike of wandering around in the woods. The reason for that is clear.

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I spent my childhood in Lapland, Finland, and also spent quite a lot of time in the woods picking berries like lingonberries, bilberries, cloudberries, you name it. And of course mushrooms, chanterelle and many others whose English name I don't even know.

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It was more of an errand or a duty, so for a long time I somehow managed to miss the wonderful, pure nature and the great impact it has on you.

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So today we are going outside. Any outside forest will do, but since this podcast is made in Bavaria, Germany, I'll talk a bit about our forests and of course the Alps.

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Because nature is one very underrated training and recovery tool we have, and for us grownups it might just be the smartest one we are still not using enough. And here as well applies what I like to say, don't do nothing, do something and skate back.

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Let's start at the roots, literally.

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There is a Japanese practice called shinrin-yoku. It translates beautifully as a forest bathing. No swimsuit required, no app needed.

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You walk slowly through trees, engage your senses and let the environment do its work.

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Japanese researchers have studied this for decades and the findings are consistently striking. When people walk in forests rather than urban environments they show clear decreases in the stress hormone cortisol, blood pressure and heart rate.

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The nervous system shifts from sympathetic mode, your fight or flight engine, to parasympathetic mode, rest, recover, digest.

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Some people call it downregulation, I call it the body catching its breath.

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So why would this hanging in the forests be a smart thing to do?

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Well, as we grow up, a few things shift. Cortisol regulation becomes less efficient, immune function begins a gradual natural decline, sleep quality often dips.

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Recovery from hard training takes longer and, critically, the risk of chronic low-grade inflammation, the kind linked to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, joint conditions, starts to creep upward.

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Walking in the forest speaks directly to all of those issues. It reduces stress hormones, supports immune function, encourages better sleep and lowers systemic inflammation markers.

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It is gentle on joints, fully weight-bearing, so bone density benefits apply, and accessible to all fitness levels.

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In short, it ticks a remarkable number of boxes for minimal perceived effort.

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And the best of all, these effects can persist for days after a single woodland walk. Not bad for a stroll.

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When you are walking in a forest and breathing, what you are breathing in is a group of compounds called phytoncides.

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Trees and plants release these into the air as part of their natural defense system.

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They deter insects, fight off fungi, and protect plants from pathogens.

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Think of them as the forest's immune response. The best part is that when we inhale them, they appear to support our immune response as well.

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The specific compounds most associated with these effects are terpenes, including alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, limonene, and mercine.

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Those are the primary aromatic molecules behind the scent of conifers, pine, cedar, fir, cypress.

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If you've ever walked through a pine wood on a warm day and thought, "I could bottle this feeling," well, you were essentially describing a terpenene cocktail at its peak.

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In studies on forest bathing, researchers found that time spent walking slowly through forest environments produced measurable physiological changes, as discussed earlier.

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But the finding that really caught the scientific community's attention was what happened to natural killer cells, a type of white blood cells.

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Their job is to identify and neutralize threats, such as virus-infected cells or abnormal cells, before the rest of the immune system gets involved.

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They are, if you like, the first patrol unit.

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After multi-day forest days, researchers recorded significant increases in the NK cell activity, and in some studies, those increases persisted for up to a week after returning home.

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That's a meaningful immune signal from what is essentially a walk in the woods.

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One important note, though. Phytoncides are one piece of a larger puzzle. When you're in a forest, you are also getting reduced noise pollution, cleaner air, more movement, visual calm, often sunlight, and sometimes social connection.

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Science can tell us that the combination works reliably well, isolating phytoncides as the sole driver is harder to prove cleanly, but they are a credible, well-studied contributor to the overall effect.

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So, what about specifically forest grownups?

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First, forest exposure, partly through inhalation of the aforementioned compounds, partly through the sensory environment, helps bring stress and cortisol baseline down.

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And lower cortisol over time supports healthier blood pressure regulation, and that matters a great deal in midlife.

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Secondly, the natural killer cell findings from forest research are particularly interesting in the context of immunogenesis, the gradual decline in immune function.

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Because NK activity is one of the markers that tends to decline with AIDS. Does a forest walk reverse that decline entirely? No.

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But supporting NK cell activity through regular exposure to nature is a positive intervention, not a marginal one.

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Third, many people over 50 experience lighter, more fragmented sleep, and the downstream effects of poor sleep on everything from mood to metabolism to immune function are well established.

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Forest environments, by reducing sympathetic activation and lowering circadian stress, appear to support more restorative sleep.

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Not dramatically, not like medication, but measurably and without side effects.

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And fourth, a lot of the real-world benefit comes down to the fact that forests make you want to walk.

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They make moderate exercise feel less like an effort and more like pleasure.

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And if you are walking regularly, comfortably in green space, you are accumulating cardiovascular benefit, insulin sensitivity improvement, joint mobility work, and mood support without even once thinking of it as training.

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That adherence effect is worth more than any supplement on the market.

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A couple of practical notes before we move on.

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If you want to maximize your exposure to phytoncides, go where the conifers are. Pine forests, cedar groves, fir woodland. The terpeny concentration is highest in these environments.

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Slow down, sit for a few minutes if you can, breathe through your nose. You don't need to be moving the whole time. Some of the research specifically used sitting in forest environments.

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Aim for 20-60 minutes, ideally 2-3 times a week if your schedule allows. Even once a week shows measurable effects compared to no exposure at all.

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A caution worth noting if you have asthma, COPD or are sensitive to strong scents, conifer forest can be quite aromatic and some individuals find the terpeny concentration irritating to their airways.

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Start with shorter sessions and see how you respond. It's not common but it is worth knowing.

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Another subject of essential oils, which some people use as a substitute for actual forest time. The evidence for inhaled oils matching the effects of genuine forest exposure simply isn't there.

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They may have some benefit but they are not equivalent to being in the environment itself. There is no shortcut for the real thing.

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The forests have been doing this quietly, generously without asking for credit for longer than medicine has existed. We are just starting to understand the mechanisms well enough to explain what our bodies have been responding to all along.

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Now we could talk about any forest in the world. But I want to take you some way specific because why not varum nitt?

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Bavaria in southern Germany is one of the most spectacular and most accessible natural wellness destinations in Europe.

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The region covers almost 71,000 square kilometers and approximately one third of that area is forested.

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Then to the south you have the Bavarian Alps, the Bavarian Alpen, running along the Austrian border. Mountains reaching over 2900 meters, crystal clear alpine lakes, over 1500 signposted hiking trails managed by der Deutsche Alpenverein, the German Alpine Club, which by the way is the largest mountaineering organization in the world with well over a million members.

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This place was made for what we are talking about today. If you're starting out or if high intensity climbing isn't your goal right now, Bavaria's lowland forests are exceptional.

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The Bavarian forest der Parische Wald near the Czech border is Germany's oldest national park. It covers over 24,000 hectares of ancient woodland. You can walk for hours on well marked even terrain through spruce, silver fir and peach or releasing those fighting sites we talked about.

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The village of Neuschernau in particular has a remarkable elevated tree canopy trail, their Baumwipfel Pfad, where you walk through the treetops. It's gentle, it's beautiful and it's deeply calming.

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And then when you're ready to climb, the Alps begin. The Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak at 2962 meters, has accessible approach routes for experienced hikers. But there are literally hundreds of routes in ranges like the Berchtesgaden Alps, Algoi and Kaavendel, credit for all fitness levels.

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The hut system, the Alpenverein huts strewn across the mountains, means you can do multi-day hikes with proper shelter, warm food and social connection, which as we will discuss next, is itself a health benefit.

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So let's shift now from the physiological to the psychological, because while we often talk about hiking as physical exercise, and it absolutely is, the mental benefits deserve their own movement, particularly for us grown-up adults.

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We have established psychological framework called Attention Restoration Theory, developed by environmental psychologists Rachel and Steven Kaplan. The idea is that natural environments, forests, mountains, open landscapes, require what they call soft fascination.

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The brain is engaged, but not taxed. This is in contrast to directed attention, the kind you use all day at work, navigating traffic, managing screens and so on.

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In nature, directed attention gets a rest. Cognitive fatigue lifts mental clarity returns.

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A 2015 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that people who walked in a natural setting for 90 minutes showed reduced activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex, the brain region associated with rumination.

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Rumination is that repetitive, churning, negative thought that underlies so much anxiety and depression.

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One 90-minute walk in nature made it measurably quieter compared to a walk in an urban environment.

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Beyond the passive restoration effect, mountain hiking offers something more active, and it's particularly powerful for midlife.

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When you set a goal, a summit, a pass, a hut, and you work towards it step by step, you activate systems of purpose and mastery.

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Psychologists call this self-efficacy, the belief that your effort connects to real outcomes.

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That belief is protective for mental health and it can erode quietly in midlife if we stop doing things that challenge us.

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There's something that happens on a long mountain ascent, usually in the final third, when your legs are burning and the trail feels endless.

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And then you crest the ridge, and the valley opens up below you.

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That moment, and I have felt it many times, is not just beautiful, it's a reminder of what the body and mind can do together.

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That feeling is worth chasing, and it gets better, not worse, as we age, because we have more to compare it to.

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And one more mental health angle, loneliness. It's one of the largest, most underreported health risks for people over 50.

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Hiking, particularly guided hikes, group walks, or hut-to-hut routes where you meet other travelers, is one of the most natural social environments that exists.

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The work creates a shared focus. Conversations flow without the awkwardness of face-to-face.

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Friendships form, connection grows. If you haven't yet explored hiking groups in your region, I'd truly encourage you to do so.

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Alright, let's get back to the physical side. I want to go beyond the idea of "hiking is good exercise" because the mechanisms are actually quite interesting and they align well with the specific physiological challenges of being 50 and over.

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Prisk forest walking and sustained uphill hiking fall within the moderate intensity aerobic zone for most people. That is roughly 50-70% of maximum heart rate.

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This is the sweet spot for improving VO2max, the measure of how efficiently your body uses oxygen.

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VO2max naturally declines with age, but regular moderate aerobic activity significantly slows that decline.

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Studies show that maintaining a higher VO2max is one of the strongest predictors of longevity and cardiovascular health in later life.

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One meta-analysis found that individuals with high cardio-respiratory fitness had a risk of all-cause mortality roughly 45% lower than those with low fitness.

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Walking uphill is an efficient way to accumulate that aerobic load.

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Hiking is also a weight-bearing exercise, which means your skeleton is under appropriate mechanical load with every step.

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That load is one of the primary signals that tells bones to maintain their density.

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This matters enormously after 50, particularly for women postmenopause where bone density loss accelerates.

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But it's relevant for everyone. Osteoporosis and osteopenia are serious risks and impact-bearing movement, like hiking, is a primary preventive tool.

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On the muscular side, uphill walking heavily recruits the glutes, quadriceps and calves, while descents, which are no walk in the park, load the quadriceps eccentrically and challenge hip stability.

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This is functional strength training, not in a gym, not with weights, but with your own body on a varied terrain.

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Varied terrain also continuously recruits the small stabilizing muscles around the ankles and knees that flat gym floors never reach.

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That has real implications for fall prevention, which again is a significant concern for adults over 50.

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Extended moderate intensity exercise, such as a multi-hour hike, is particularly effective at improving insulin sensitivity and supporting healthy blood glucose regulation.

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After 50, the body's metabolic efficiency changes and sustained low-to-moderate effort outperforms short, intense bursts for glucose management in many individuals.

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Additionally, being in cool, fresh outdoor air itself has associations with improved metabolic signaling, though this research is still developing.

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I know some of you are thinking, "But what about my knees or my hips?" I thought about it too.

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But moderate load exercise, like hiking, especially on natural variable terrain, is generally beneficial for joint health in people with early to moderate osteoarthritis, not harmful.

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The movement promotes synovial fluid circulation, which nourishes cartilage. The surrounding musculature gets stronger, reducing load on the joint surface.

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A good pair of poles can reduce knee loading on descents by up to 25% according to biomechanical studies.

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Start gently, build gradually, listen to your body, but don't let joint concerns be a reason to stay indoors.

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Right, you are sold, or at least curious. So let's talk preparation, because the joy of being in the wild is directly proportional to how sensibly you have set yourself up for it.

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So some things to consider before any significant forest walk or mountain hike.

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1. Choose the right route for today's you. Not last year's you, not the you from the brochure. Start with routes that are clearly within your current fitness and experience level.

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In Bavaria, the Alpenverein and local tourist ports create trails carefully, blue for easy, red for moderate, black for demanding.

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If you haven't hiked in a while, start with a blue trail. The mountain will be there again when you are stronger.

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2. Always tell someone where you are going. I know this sounds elementary, but it's often skipped.

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Before any mountain hike, leave a clear note or message with someone, your route, expected return, time, emergency contact.

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Mountain rescue services in Bavaria are excellent, but they need information in case they need to find you.

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3. Check the weather, and not just at trailhead level.

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Mountain weather is its own animal. It changes fast and the differences between valley and summit can be dramatic.

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Always check summit level forecasts.

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In Bavaria, the Bavarian Avalanche Warning Service and the Alpenverein provide reliable mountain-specific forecasts.

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Thunderstorms in summer are common in the Alps and can build very quickly in the afternoon.

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If a storm is forecast, plan to summit before noon and be descending by early afternoon.

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4. Use proper footwear and trekking poles.

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On any mountain trail, wear proper hiking boots with ankle support, not trail runners or trainers.

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Ankle support matters enormously on uneven rocky ground, especially on the way down, when fatigue affects proprioception.

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Trekking poles, as I mentioned, reduce knee strain on descent significantly and improve confidence on steep sections.

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For us grown-ups, I consider the poles essentially standard equipment on any route with significant elevation change.

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5. Hydration and nutrition are more important than you might think.

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Altitude and physical effort combine to accelerate fluid loss.

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The rule of thumb for mountain hiking is at least half a litre of water per hour of active walking, with the amount increasing in heat.

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Take real food, sandwiches, nuts, fruit, energy bars, because extended hiking depletes crigocane stores faster than people expect.

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Bonking on a mountain that's at the wall of total energy depletion is both unpleasant and potentially dangerous.

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6. The biggest beginner mistake is going too fast.

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Start slower than feels necessary. I'm serious.

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In the first 30 minutes of a mountain hike, most people move at a pace that exhausts them by an hour or two.

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Find a rhythm where you can speak in full sentences comfortably. If you cannot, you are going too fast.

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The Alpine guides call this the Bergsteigerrhythmus, the mountaineer's rhythm.

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It's almost meditative and it allows you to cover astonishing distances with relatively low perceived effort.

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Sun, cold and altitude can always surprise.

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UV radiation intensifies with altitude, roughly 10-12% per 1000 meters.

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At 2000 meters on a clear, pavarian summer day, you are in significantly higher UV exposure than in the valley.

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Use SPF 50, cover your neck, wear sunglasses with UV protection, and always pack a light insulating layer and a waterproof shell, even in summer, because the temperature can drop 6 degrees per 1000 meters of ascent.

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Hypothermia is a risk even in July if a wet storm catches you.

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Some forest-specific notes.

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If you are walking in the pavarian forest or similar lowland woodland, particularly from spring through autumn, tick awareness is important.

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The region has a population of ticks that carry Lyme disease and TBE, tick-borne encephalitis, wear long trousers tucked into socks, use insect repellent and check skin carefully after each outing.

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TBE vaccination is recommended by German health authorities for people regularly spending time in southern pavarian woodland.

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Weekly challenge.

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We began in an imaginary forest, but I hope by now it feels a little more real, a little more like somewhere you are actively planning to go.

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Because that's the whole point. The science is clear.

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Time in natural environments, in forests, on trails, in the mountains is not a luxury or a weekend hobby. It is a legitimate, well-evidenced pillar of health, both physical and mental.

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The benefits are not diminished by age. In many ways they become more valuable, precisely because of the specific challenges our bodies and minds face in this chapter.

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The forest doesn't ask you how old you are. The mountain doesn't check your fitness tracker. They just offer what they've always offered, air, terrain, silence and the deep satisfaction of moving through something magnificent under your own power.

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Take a walk, preferably among trees, ideally with a gradient involved. And if you end up with sore quads on a Bavarian mountainside, tell them I said hello.

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And remember what I like to say, don't do nothing, do something and scale it back.

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Welcome to Scaled to Fit, fit in your 50s.

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And I am Marko Lindgren. Thank you so much for tuning in today. If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who might need to hear it.

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All sounds are made by me, except the jingle that was made by Gemini. Send us your feedback via email to feedback@scaledto.fit or leave a rating at podchaser.com.

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Check show notes at scaledto.fit, all the links are there.

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Fit in your 50s.