After one of the wettest winters for a very long time, the Great British Summer is finally upon us.

It’s time for us to emerge from our artificially-lit, thermo-neutral indoor environments we call home, and get active outside. Perhaps we can go climb a mountain, go for a run or a walk, go sailing or kayaking or even do a little gardening. The common theme, apart from being outside, is exercise.

The trouble with ‘exercise’ is that it conjures up images of sweating it out in the gym. The truth is though, that activity is the key: moving around more and using our muscles for what they have evolved to do.

Recent research has highlighted the importance of activity for health, and the good news is that even small changes can have a big impact. Sustainability is the thing though: it’s the small changes that we make and sustain on a daily basis that have the biggest impact. Using the stairs every day or getting off the bus one stop earlier every day.

That’s why summer is so great, because we can do more of these simple activities in the good weather. If we burn an extra 100Kcal per day walking that extra mile, we could burn our way through over two weeks’ worth of calories in a year, for what is a relatively simple change in lifestyle.

Of course being active outside has so many other health benefits as well. Many activities we can do together, improving social interaction and relationships that in turn benefits health.

We are all familiar with the elating effects of experiencing the natural world, and exercise itself can also elevate mood, alleviate pain and even improve cognition through endorphin release and other mechanisms. Exercise also releases ‘myokines’ such as irisin which have beneficial effects on metabolic health.

So go on. Get active outside. And enjoy the summer… or what’s left of it!

Tom Barber, Associate Professor and Honorary Consultant Endocrinologist