Hetty Key was so curious about how people experience the outdoors and what it does to their lives and attitudes, that she started her own research company to look specifically at women in sport. Her U.K-based firm, Women in Adventure, has now produced three studies on women in the outdoors. In this episode she walks us through her findings about mental health and nature, detailed in her 2019 report on her Mental Wellbeing Survey. We loved hearing her most surprising discoveries, and how we can use her findings to fuel our everyday life outdoors.

[1:54] Hetty Key’s favorite outdoor space

[2:59] How Hetty became someone who liked to go outside

[5:40] How she found something she likes to do outside

[9:45] All about Hetty’s research

[15:57] What Hetty’s research shows about mental health and adventure

[17:24] What is adventure?

[20:24] This many women thought adventure has a positive impact on wellbeing

[21:40] Breaking down mental wellbeing

[24:52] Why do some activities help mental health more than others?

[26:22] How does going outside impact how women see themselves?

[35:10] Why she didn’t look at “dosage”

[42:42] Hetty’s favorite and most essential outdoor gear

[45:12] Hetty’s favorite outdoor moment

One thing you may not know about Amy is that she hates birthday parties. Like, cannot stand them. In this outdoor diary, find out what the Bushatz family does instead and how they make heading outside part of every birthday!

[:27] Amy and Birthday parties

[:56] A Bushatz family tradition

[2:32] Ice fishing for Huck Day

[4:30] The PANTS!

[4:42] Back to running

So often when we think about heading outside, we think about what it’s doing for our body and emotions — how we feel. But time in nature and, specifically, doing things outside your comfort zone has a real impact on your brain, which then has an impact on everything else. And one of those brain things is creativity.

In this episode, positive psychologist and creativity expert Cordele Glass talks to us about how spending time in nature works with our brains to put us in what he calls an upward spiral, increasing our well-being and specifically making us more creative. He also tells us how we can harness that experience for our own lives.

[2:25] Cordele Glass’s favorite outdoor space

[4:27] How definitions impacted his outdoor journey

[6:55] How he got into the study of positive psychology

[18:41] What is creativity?

[21:09] Does everyone have creativity within them?

[22:51] The difference between being creative and being good at something

[26:03] The impact of mindset

[29:35] How nature impacts creativity

[33:44] All about the upward spiral

[37:51] How spending time outside impacts the upward spiral

[43:23] Two ways listeners can increase their creativity outside

[48:13] Cordele’s favorite and most essential outdoor gear

[49:32] Cordele’s favorite outdoor moment

If you’ve been following the Unplugging Challenge, you know Amy was trying to unplug over her outdoor time each day for a week. So what did the challenge teach her? Here she shares what she learned over the seven days of unplugging that you might want to know, too.

[:25] Amy’s technology problem

[2:08] Amy’s most recent challenge

[2:36] What she learned

[4:15] Alaska seasons

[5:16 ] This week’s Outdoor Hero

Tim Moss thought the key to having a life focused on outdoor challenges was to them his job. But instead the UK-based adventurer found that adventure work brought fewer adventures to his life, so he shifted his mindset to make adventure a part of regular life — and help others fund theirs through his Challenge Grants program.

Listen to Tim’s thoughts on leaving life as a professional adventurer and how to incorporate outdoor adventures into your normal, everyday life.

[1:28] Tim’s favorite outdoor space

[2:41] What is ‘Around the World in 80 Ways?’

[4:13] Psychological vs. physical adventure

[8:16] Why he left adventuring for a regular job

[11:45] Why adventuring doesn’t need to be full time

[16:04] How adventuring changes once you add kids

[20:31] All about Challenge Grants

[26:11] How to build an adventure during a pandemic

[27:52] Why our definition of “adventure” is too narrow

[33:00] Tim’s favorite and most essential outdoor gear

[36:07] Tim’s favorite outdoor moment

Did you know that the vast majority of New Year resolutions fail by mid-February? If your outdoor habit is feeling wishy-washy, it’s never too late to get it back on track. In this week’s Outdoor Diary episode, Amy talks about re-energizing a lost or slightly broken habit.

[:28] How is your outdoor habit going?

[1:35] Amy’s newest challenge

[3:08] Amy’s week full of snow

[4:03] How to see all our cold weather Outdoor Heroes

[4:15] Where to find Humans Outside

If you’re anything like me, you have trouble unplugging inside or outside. Even when I head outside I am typically toting my phone, snapping photos and getting sucked into various social media platforms. One time I was so busy texting that I almost walked into a moose.

My struggle is pretty normal, according to today’s guests. Unplugging is really, really hard. But Sebastian Slovin and Sonya Mohamed are unplugging experts, and on this episode they share not just the intel on why unplugging is so hard, but their best tips and tricks for making it happen inside and outside.

[2:24] Sebastian and Sonya’s favorite outdoor space

[3:29] How they became people who like to go outside

[6:31] Why they focus on unplugging

[8:53] Why screens have so much power over us

[13:18] Is all screen time terrible?

[16:58] What screen time balance looks like

[19:08] What’s the secret to learning to unplug?

[22:31] About their book

[24:36] How to unplug at home

[28:40] About our Unplugging Challenge

[32:46] Is unplugging outside better than unplugging inside?

[35:27] How to be plugged in outside and still not really plugged in.

[38:28] Sonya and Sebastian’s favorite and most essential outdoor gear

[42:34] Their favorite outdoor moment (seriously — it’s adorable)

When your outdoor time becomes such a habit that it’s just something you naturally do every day, you might find a new problem. Instead of experiencing the wonder of heading into nature, now you just do it as something to get done. In this episode Amy talks about the problems that brings, what causes it for her and what she noticed when she took the time to be present.

[1:20] Amy’s new outdoor problem

[3:54] What happens when you head outside with intention

[4:44] Unplug with Humans Outside

[5:04] Another giveaway and a challenge!

[6:00] This week’s Outdoor Hero

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Nothing about Alaska captures the imagination quite like sled dog racing and mushing. Imagine bundling against sub-zero temperatures and then forward standing on a sled pulled by a team of dogs — and, for the long distance events, doing it for days on end. And while the races are only in the winter, keeping and caring for the dogs is a year-round thing. Dog racing is truly a lifestyle.

In this special episode of Humans Outside, two world-famous mushers and identical twin sisters, Kristy and Anna Berington, share with us not just everything you’ve ever wanted to know about mushing, but also a window into the special connection the sport creates with the outdoors.

[2:36] Kristy and Anna Berington’s favorite outdoor space

[6:40] What is dog racing?

[8:09] All about sled dogs

[10:12] Is mushing cruel to dogs?

[16:41] What do sled dogs eat?

[19:17] What is the iditarod?

[22:24] What are the costs of dog racing?”

[24:38] How dog racing connects them with nature

[30:15] About their relationship with the dogs

[33:14] Can you replicate the experience of dog racing in another way?

[35:58] How to have the same experience with nature

[37:03] Kristy and Anna’s favorite and most essential outdoor gear

[41:39] Their favorite outdoor moment

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