Spending some time outdoors provides a lot of benefits for our health. It is natural to do so because humans are part of nature. Every person should spend some time doing some outdoor activities to stay healthy, positive and to feel better in their own skin.

Children, especially, need to spend some time outside because it improves their cognitive skills, their memory and they learn a lot of new things. They feel better about themselves and even the smallest achievements will boost their confidence.

There are plenty of outdoor activities that you can perform which will eventually improve your skills your health. You can play some sports and you can try running, take a walk, ride a bike or just have a picnic with your friends or family. It is very healthy to spend some time in nature. That way we clear our mind from the negative thoughts and release all the negativity. Our muscles relax and our lungs fill with fresh air.

With the everyday use of the technology and working all week long, we try to reconnect with our roots and spend some time in nature in order to recharge our batteries and have plenty of energy for the tasks we have to do.

All of those outdoor activities are really fun and interesting, but before you decide for some outdoor activity or maybe going camping, you need to have the right equipment with you in order to avoid unpleasant events.

Besides the equipment needed, you should also take into consideration that some unpredicted things may still happen. This means that you need to learn some tricks that will help you survive when you are stranded in the wilderness. The following tricks and tips will help you stay safe while you are outdoors and you will feel ready for an amazing time in nature.

Outdoor skills you should master:

1. Learn how to set fire

When camping or spending some time under the stars, make sure you know how to set a fire. The fire is needed for light, it provides warmth and it is needed for cooking your food. For example, if you want to roast or fry some meat, maybe making soup or some tea, you need to be able to start and maintain a campfire.

You need to learn how to properly set the fire because it is a crucial survival skill. You may have some gadgets with you that will help you set the fire. Take into consideration that there might be some cases when you do not have such gadgets with you, so you have to do all the work on your own.

There are three things needed to start a fire: fuel, oxygen and a spark. So learn how to find and use these three elements needed for the fire. It may sound really simple, but the reality is much more deceiving than you think. The tinder and wood you manage to gather, the environment and weather play an important role when starting a fire.

2. Learn how to send signals so that you can be rescued

Imagine you have broken your mobile phone or that there is no signal for it. Or maybe the battery is very low. What can you do in this case? For example, you can send a smoke signal to rescue parties. By using this trick, you can attract the attention and you will be rescued. All you need to do is to burn something that will create a thick smoke. Green vegetation works really well in this case. This means that you will need to learn how to set a fire and have the basis for the green vegetation to burn properly.

Suggested reading:  Signal For Help – Wilderness Survival Tips

Another trick is to flash bright colors or tie colored clothes to high observation points. A lot of people were saved because they managed to tie brightly colored clothes to high trees. The clothes were spotted by rescue helicopters and the missing persons managed to get back home.

3. Learn how to build a shelter

When you are in the woods or the wilderness, you need to protect yourself from the elements. It is crucial to learn how to build a shelter and do so properly. You may have a sleeping bag or you may stay in a camp trailer, but you may also be alone under the sky.

When building a shelter, you protect yourself from all the dangers of the woods and you minimize the chances of being attacked by wild animals. Before starting to build a shelter, you should have the following tips in mind in order to complete this mission successfully.

Initially, you should not build a shelter on damp ground, you should not build a shelter on the top of a hill and you should never build a shelter in the bottom of a narrow valley. In this case, you may be very cold during the night, so avoid these mistakes if you cannot build a proper bedding area. Find a place to build your shelter somewhere in between.

Avoid sleeping directly on the ground. You can use some dry leaves or a good tarp for making a bed in case you do not have anything else with you that can serve as a bed in your shelter.

Also, make sure to properly plan your shelter because most people usually go for complex designs. Keep it simple and answer these questions: How many people does it need to accommodate? Do you have all the resources? Do you need to build it yourself or you can get a helping hand? Read the following article to learn how to plan a shelter:

Planning A Shelter In The Wild

4. Make sure you stay warm in the woods

It can get really cold in the woods during the night so make sure you are warm because the lack of heat can result in many health problems, especially hypothermia. The following tips will help you stay warm when you are outside in the woods.

• Make sure you have a lot of layers of clothes on you so that you can keep your warmth.
• Make sure you empty your bladder. It may sound a little bit strange, but your body uses a lot of heat in order to keep the urine warm.
• In case you are with a partner you can cuddle to feel warmer.
• Most amount of body heat is lost through your head. Make sure that you insulate your head properly. Wear a hat or something else.
• Keep a space blanket in your bag. It will help you retain your body heat if you wrap yourself in it.

5. Water filters are really important

No matter the scenario you find yourself in, water is essential in order to survive. It happens that sometimes you run out of water when you are outdoors. This is why it’s important to make sure you learn how to use a water filter or even how to make one to filter the water you manage to gather.

The water that is found in nature may not be suitable for drinking, so you need to be able to boil it or use a proper water filter before drinking it. Water filters can be found online or in many shops and there are now models that are very small and lightweight. With the proper water filter, you can drink any water you find near you.

6. Learn to treat animal bites

You may be attacked by an animal or get bitten by insects, so you need to be ready to treat the bites properly to survive. The first step is to tie a ligature around the limb, above the bite to restrict the blood from flowing from the wound into the other parts of your body. Once this is done, the next step is to wash the wound as thoroughly as possible. If you have soap, use soap and water to clean the wound.

Make sure you call for help if you can’t handle the situation. A lot of people think it’s nothing and by the time they realize things have gotten worse, their health quickly declines.

7. Make sure you have a first aid kit with you when you go outdoors

In the wilderness, you can injure yourself in many ways, no matter how well-prepared you think you are. Mother Nature doesn’t give second chances and if you lack the proper first-aid items, you might not make it back home. A good first-aid kit is priceless when you injure yourself and there’s no one else around to take care of you.

Having a wilderness survival kit is one thing, learning how to use it properly is another. First aid classes are important and everyone should be able to learn a thing or two about self-healing and self-help. You don’t have to be wilderness expert or a prepper to learn these things and it’s good knowledge to have. You never know when you may need to use the things you learn to save someone or even yourself.

8. Learn how to recognize the directions

Finding your way in nature is an important skill to have and it will help you get back to camp or find your way towards civilization. While a map can certainly help to get out of the woods safely, there are also other ways to figure your path. When there is moss on the trees or on the rocks, it shows the north.

Spider webs appear on the south side of the trees. If the sun is out, put a stick in the ground and mark the end of the shadow of the stick on the ground. Wait for a few minutes; the shadow will move. Now mark the end of the new position of the shadow. The line joining those two points will run east-west. I often use my walking sticks to test my skills and find my way back to camp.

9. Learn how to cook in the wilderness

You may find yourself in a situation when you will need to cook the food in order to survive. The best way took your food is to grill it or to boil in case you have something in which you can do that. In the beginning, you will need to set the fire and use some metal rods to improvise a grill. You can make soup or tea or maybe to boil your food by creating a cup from aluminum sheets. You should also learn which plants are edible and which are not in order to avoid food poisoning.

More on wilderness survival cooking here:

Survival Improvised Cooking

10. It’s a natural reaction to be scared and nervous when you find yourself in trouble

Try to eliminate the negative thoughts and try to control your breathing so that you can stay calm. It is essential to focus more on being calm and finding a solution than to worry, panic or to become anxious. There are many tricks you can use to stay calm and chewing gum is one of them.

If you find yourself in a situation that makes you nervous, you can chew gum to calm down. Your brain will associate the eating sensation with a peaceful scenario as you wouldn’t be eating if you were in danger.

These tips and tricks can be really useful when it comes to surviving or finding yourself somewhere in the wilderness or the outdoor. The tricks and the tips are really easy to learn. They can save your life when you do not have any other plan or when you do not know what to do in order to survive.

This article was written by Anthony Maldonado.

Click here to read more about his passions.

AUTHOR BIO

Anthony Maldonado has over Thirty (30) years of experience in the field of hunting, sports and self-defense related fields. Now he keeps on doing it through teaching others about how to prepare and DIY. He is an expert in the area of DIY. He is presently working at his tenbesttipz.com

Other Useful Resources:

Survival Lessons from the 1880s

Knowledge to survive any medical crisis situation

A Green Beret’s guide to combat and shooting

Learn how to Safeguard your Home against Looters

The vital self-sufficiency lessons our great grand-fathers left us