REVIEW article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
An Integrative Review of the Physical, Mental, and Socioeconomic Benefits of Outdoor Hiking
Provisionally accepted
- 1Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China
- 2Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
- 3University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
In recent years, outdoor hiking has garnered global attention as an effective health promotion activity. This review synthesizes relevant literature from various databases up to October 2025, assessing the physiological, psychological, and socio-economic impacts of outdoor hiking on individuals. The findings indicate that outdoor hiking significantly improves cardiovascular function, reduces the risk of chronic diseases, and enhances immune function. Additionally, it alleviates stress, improves mood, and helps reduce symptoms of depression. Furthermore, hiking contributes to increased social interaction and community cohesion, while also stimulating tourism and related industries. Existing policies and management measures still have limitations. This paper suggests incorporating trail development into national infrastructure planning, promoting "green social prescribing," and establishing a standardized framework for benefit assessment to support evidence-based decision-making. In conclusion, outdoor hiking not only enhances individual physical and mental health but also has a positive impact on economic and social development, necessitating policy support and interdisciplinary collaboration for sustainable health promotion.
Keywords: outdoor hiking, physical health, Mental Health, Economic benefits, SocialBenefits, sustainable development
Received: 06 Sep 2025; Accepted: 25 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Peng, Tang, 张, Zhang and Liang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tianhang Peng
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.