NATURAL HEALTH BENEFITS OF A WALK ALONG THE BEACH… IECHYD DA

The Welsh land and sea and a healthy lifestyle are two things fundamental to our Welsh lifestyle brand.

You will often find our team surfing, walking or running along the local beaches, mostly followed by a coffee at any of our local establishments overlooking Whitmore Bay (two from three of the main beaches are dog friendly all year around).

We wanted to share with you some of the natural health benefits of walking and or training along the beach (we usually do this at across our three main local beaches at Ynys Y Barri, Whitmore Bay, Jacksons Bay or Watch Tower Bay).

Here are just a few reasons why walking and running along the sand is a great idea;

Strength Training; The struggle you feel when taking a step in dry sand (when your foot tries to get traction) that’s your muscles at work.  It takes 2-3 times more energy to walk or run on sand than it does to move at the same pace on hard surfaces, and up to 50% more calories! . Great for strengthening all the muscles between your feet and back, calves, quadriceps and glutes.

Improved Propriception; Good walking proprioception means your mind is in touch with the stimuli coming from your feet. We have around 3,000 – 7,000 nerve endings in our feet Shoes, even flip flops can numb this ability, walking barefoot on sand is a great way to stimulate your senses

Relaxing; Sand will conform to your feet without restriction allowing them to relax almost like a natural foot massage. And if your stroll or run takes you past a shore the the sound of waves and seagulls will most likely help your stresses  

Earthing; The theory behind earthing (also known as grounding) is electrical energy from the earth can be absorbed through your feet (especially when walking barefoot on wet or moist sand) and lead to a multitude of health benefits.

Naturally Exfoliating; Wet sand acts as an exfolliant that helps remove dead skin cells from your body. Try walking or running in loose sand and then wandering into the path of shallow waves from time to time to wash it off. It also works for the rest of your body

Vitamin and Mineral Boost; The sea contains a multitude of healthy minerals such magnesium, potassium and iodine often used in skin anti-aging products, Have you seen how ffab and bouncy surfer hair is? (Sea salt is amazing for hair we use it in all our hair products). Even if you wanted to sit and watch the waves the natural sunshine provides you with a dose of Vitamin D (helps calcium absorption, autoimmune response and mood)

Gait Analysis; Although this may appeal more to runners, but if you are interested in analyzing your footstrike then rather go through the expense of professional give yourself a chance by running barefoot down a sandy beach. A simple glance at your footsteps can tell you quite a bit!

So there it is, run, walk, swim or even sit along our Barri coastline, soak up a multitude of health benefits and develop a new found love for our natural environment as Hippocrates once said  â€˜Nature itself is the best physician’.

Let us know how you get on and don’t forget to share your walks, surfs and runs using hashtag #GWlifestyle.

May all your adventures be good ones…

If you are interested in taking part in any group training on the local sands we highly recommend local lifestyle partners and Anturio Adventures Brawd and Mis.Fit www.brawdhealth.com. Founder Mark Lloyd comments ‘While the rest of the Vale sleep we earn our coffi and brecwast on the sands followed by a coffee and a roll in one of the many locally independent coffee houses overlooking the sea. That is before we had home and have zero waste Good wash of course!

Leave yourself feeling totally refreshed and naturally cleansed after your beach walk or run why not try our zero waste natural shampoo bars or soaps in biodegradable travel pouch… and help us change the world #onewashtatime

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