Contributed by Cindi Pearce, Catalogs.com Top 10 Guru

The outdoors is there for a purpose: For you to get out in it and experience it and take advantage of it.

Try it. You might like it.

Here are the top 10 reasons to love the great outdoors:

10. Because You’re not a Hermit

Okay. If you insist, be a hermit and live your life indoors just like the infamously quirky recluse Howard Hughes did, but you are going to miss out on a lot. There are things you can do outdoors that you simply can’t do inside. Even Hughes eventually resurfaced and stepped outside.

9. Love Outdoors Because You’re Free

Think of the people who are in prisons and never get to go outside. Go outdoors for them. Revel in the fact that you have the freedom to wander outside any time that you want to.

8. Because it’s natural

The great outdoors can be soooo romantic. Grab your loved one and sneak off to the woods or the lake or to the beach and, uhmmm, have some fun. Ssshhh. We won’t tell. Just don’t get arrested.

7. Love Outdoors Because You’ll have Company

Aside from Internet chat rooms and those ridiculously lingerie-dressed trolls and succubae on TV commercials that are urging you to call such and such numbers for a good time, the best place to meet people is likely to be outdoors rather than in the confines of your home. Break your Internet and TV viewing addictions now and head out the door!

6. Because the weather’s nice

If you live in the south, you can skip this part. If you live in the north you just know that come November you are in for at least five months of lousy weather that is going to confine you to your house except when you HAVE to go out and shovel snow and scrape off icy car windows and plow the driveway, freezing your tootsies in the process. Don’t fritter away the good weather months indoors. Get outside and enjoy!

5. Because it’s Energizing

You can, of course, exercise indoors, at home or in a gym but you can actually get some great exercise outdoors (walking, jogging, swimming, hiking, gardening) and it doesn’t seem so much like work because you are doing something you like to do. Let the great outdoors be your gym.

4. Because it Makes you Happy

The outdoors is a good cure for depression. During the dark, cold winter months many people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) because they are deprived of adequate sunlight. Get out while the going is good and take advantage of the health benefits of the great outdoors.

3. Because You Need Vitamin D

We all need exposure to the sun. Yeah, yeah, too much sun exposure isn’t good but a little is necessary. Sun exposure makes us produce vitamin D, which we need in ample supply because it is necessary in order for our body to function properly.

2. Because it’s Good for You

We are all subjected to indoor pollution at home and at work so it is to our benefit to get outside and get some fresh air. Your brain and body will thank you. Of course, there is outdoor pollution as well, but if you’re lucky enough to live in a rural, wide-open space where there is little pollution, more power to you! A stroll through the city isn’t going to kill you, for sure, and you’ll be getting some exercise.

1. Because it’s There

Don’t take it for granted. Think about the elderly and housebound who would give just about anything to get out and walk around in their yards, smelling the fresh air, listening to the birds cheep, feeling the breeze against their cheeks and the sun on their shoulders. Take advantage of the great outdoors while you can because someday you may be confined indoors and only left to dream about the world outside your window.