Research shows that hill-walking, especially in wild places, lifts the spirits and is good for general well-being. John G O'Dwyer has believed this for years
Every pre-nuptial couple should do it at least once! Forget guidance weekends and homely chats with well-meaning pastors and take the true test of compatibility. Try a seven-hour trek over rain strafed Irish mountains, getting lost a couple of times en route, tumbling into several bog holes and arriving back down hungry, drenched and feeling totally mugged by gravity, to "where we definitely parked this morning, didn't we?" only to be told you have both descended the wrong valley. If such couples are even on the remotest nodding terms the following week, it must be odds on they will eventually leave the same dwelling to christen their grandchildren.
You see, years of slogging the muddy mountains of Ireland have led me to an unshakeable conclusion about high places. My pet theory holds that those whose romantic destinies merge - not in some salubrious nightclub, accompanied by champagne and close dancing - but over a soggy sandwich on a windswept Irish mountaintop are more likely to be together for the long haul. Recently, however, I have been coming across studies suggesting lifelong romance may not be the only pulse-raising benefit to be found in the high country. Evidence is now pointing to other breezy self-improvements such as better physical health and psychological well-being.
NOW, WHEN I first tiptoed into mountain leadership 16 years ago, serene thoughts of health raising dividends were a catastrophic vision away. My recurring nightmare involved, naively, leading walkers over vertiginous cliffs, becoming irrevocably lost with night approaching, or getting an entire group crag-fast halfway down a precipitous gully. To the surprise of many, including myself, none of these occurrences have come to pass, so far at least! Even more surprising is the fact that systematic saturations, face freezing winds and icy mountain summits haven't, as you might imagine, precipitated terminal pneumonia.
And this, despite the fact that most weekends I swaddle in dampish clothes, have lunch in the open air, get chilled to the core and end up changing "al fresco", often in pouring rain. And the general prognosis seems good - my hill-walking companions are also hale and hearty.
Indeed, having accompanied hundreds of people on outings over Irish, Welsh, Scottish and Alpine mountains - often bombarded by the most fiendish weather imaginable - not one person has, to my knowledge, come down with even a sniffle from such experiences.
Instead, many speak of long-standing conditions such as asthma, bronchitis and sinus infections improving after what some would consider health-endangering expeditions.
And so it now seems the second pet theory, with which I have bored walking companions over the years, may also have something to it. Research is now pointing to heart and soul-lifting value from the wilderness experiences apparently supporting my firm belief that recourse to wild places does actually lead to better all-round health.
A growing movement imported from America now suggests a subconscious relationship between well-being and natural environments, exemplified by Wordsworth's dancing with the daffodils. The poet didn't know he was sampling wilderness therapy but this is the present name for a body of knowledge proposing that not only are there measurable biological benefits from leaving our structured, stress-filled environment and heading for the natural pleasures of wild places, but the psychological dividends also stack up.
Put simply, evolution designed us to survive best within immutable natural spaces. Put us instead into ever-changing, stress-filled urban environments and our coping skills decline hugely.
OF COURSE, MANY will see such notions flirting a little too closely with idealistic new-age therapies - a hill for every ill as it were. Nevertheless, few will disagree, that removing ourselves occasionally from day-to-day environments, which are so often filled with negative influences and heading off to wilder places is not good for our overall well-being.
So how do you get a fix of wilderness therapy? One sure way is to join one of more than 100 hill-walking clubs countrywide catering for climbers, hill-walkers and ramblers.
So get out there soon and harvest the wholesome dividends from our simplest and most accessible recreational activity. And if you are also in the market for lifelong romance - well, who knows?
To find a hill-walking club near you, contact the Mountaineering Council of Ireland at tel: 01-6251115, e-mail mci@eircom.net or see www.mountaineering.ie.
John G O'Dwyer is a Tipperary-based hill-walker and mountain leader