On a rural Barton County blacktop Sunday morning, a hawk could be heard screeching overhead. The early fall weather was cool but the sun was bright.

Meanwhile, cyclists were pedaling away on those roads, and along the Arkansas River, four-wheeler enthusiasts were running up and down the river bed and gunshots echoed as a shooting range was busy. On the Great Bend Hike and Bike Path, walkers were enjoying the pleasant conditions.

In town, kids and adults filled the parks. Disc golf players were making their rounds.

Sadly,research shows that the average American spends 87 percent of their time in enclosed buildings and 6 percent of their time in enclosed vehicles. That’s a total of 93 percent of their lives spent inside.

There are a number of reasons why this is unhealthy – for body, mind, and spirit. For starters, levels of many pollutants concentrate indoors, where levels are often two to five times higher than typical outdoor concentrations.

Simply opening your windows to let more fresh air in is actually one of the easiest and most effective ways to help purify your indoor living spaces and decrease your exposure to disease-causing pollutants, mold, and more.

This is a sound strategy to do regularly, even in the winter. Ideally, open two windows on opposite sides of the house for cross ventilation. Keep them open for about ten minutes, as that will exchange most of the air. Of course, do it in the warmest part of the day if it is winter.

Alternatively, you can get more fresh air just by spending more time outdoors – and there are many benefits you’ll receive by doing this, above and beyond the fresh air. Benefits include boosting creativity and mental focus, improving  mood and self esteem, increasing vitamin D levels, improving immunity, improving sleep and, equally important, getting one back in touch with nature.

So, with all these advantages and with all the opportunities available here to get outdoors, there really are no excuses not to. For the next few days anyway, the weather will be wonderful making going outside even more enjoyable.

One doesn’t have to ride a bike 25 miles to benefit. Just open the door, step out and start to walk.

You’ll be glad you did.

Dale Hogg