When Di Westaway wants to clear her head, she straps on her hiking boots, pops on a backpack and heads for the great outdoors. She wasn’t always a hiker. That all changed two decades ago when, on a whim, Westaway decided to join a friend on her first hiking trip to South America. At the time, Westaway was working full-time as a radio producer and going through a rough patch. Not only was her marriage crumbling, she was also struggling under the weight of caring for her two young children.

“I was in that ‘stuck’ place,” she recalls. “It just felt like, ‘Is this all there is?’ ”

The idea of scaling a mountain in South America sounded “ridiculously scary” to the then 39-year-old, but it also felt like something that might shift her perspective. “What we discovered was, ‘Oh my god, there’s a world of adventure out there! And you don’t have to be a young, fit, 30-year-old male to go and do this stuff.’ ”

Westaway “fell in love with being outdoors and hiking” and returned home invigorated. She was so fired up, she posted an ad in the school newsletter to see if there were any mums who wanted to go hiking with her. Soon, her hiking group was born. And in 2009, she went on to launch Coastrek, Australia’s premier charity hiking challenge for women.

So what turns a walk into a hike? There are two factors, Westaway explains. First, you tend to push yourself more on a hike than a walk. Second, it needs to be out in nature.

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Being outside is part of what makes hiking so good for your mental health, says clinical psychologist Dr Jodie Lowinger, author of The Mind Strength Method. She says humans are “designed to be in nature”.

The constant movement of hiking stimulates positive neurochemicals, Lowinger says, which can “mitigate against anxiety, stress and burnout”. Plus, the focus required for the activity “keeps your mind in the present”.

The physical health benefits can’t be overlooked either, Westaway adds. When you’re walking on a footpath, each foot strike is identical. “That monotonous same-movement pattern over time will wear out your joints,” she says. Hiking, on the other hand, helps hone your balance, co-ordination and agility as you navigate uneven terrain.