'It was walking and getting out that really did help' - Miranda Hart reveals how being outside helped her battle chronic illness

BBC Woman’s Hour kicked off 2025 with a special guest - and a special message.

Comedian and author Miranda Hart is best known for exercising our funny bones, but now she has us wanting to invest in a pair of the best walking shoes and upping our steps.

Miranda joined Nuala McGovern for an illuminating and forthright special on New Year’s Day, with a focus on the health benefits of walking, and how a love of being in nature was the perfect motivator in helping the actress cope with her chronic illness and battle to get back on her feet.

I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest with You | £12.50 (was £25) from Amazon

Written with wit and warmth, the comedian gets honest about what she learned on her journey from illness to recovery.

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In her memoir published in October 2024, I Haven't Been Entirely Honest With You, she revealed that she was diagnosed with Lyme disease, which led to her becoming bedbound with ME/CFS - myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, a long-term illness that affects the nervous and immune systems.

Speaking movingly of how she manages her fatigue and coped with being bedbound, Miranda described being in nature as “the most wonderful playground” and the isolation she felt when her illness meant she could no longer get the same joy from it.

Continuing, she described how for many months she simply had to endure “missing the connection” to nature, and spoke movingly of how even seeing the grass grow and streams move can be a reassuring sign that, even if you’re fighting an illness, life can go on moving forward.

It was this that motivated her to want to get back on her feet – after only having the tree outside her window (which she called “her friend”) as her source of nature.

At her lowest, Miranda had described visualising herself moving again, in order to get the body in line with the mind. When she would do this – before she was strong enough to go for walks – she would often think of seeing beautiful flowers like the bluebell.

After visualising nature walks, she got to a place where she could begin walking in her mum’s garden before fully finding her feet again – with the ultimate test being her first trip away down in Cornwall.

It was here where she came across a meadow filled with bluebells, something which for months she’d only been able to visualise, and it led to her breaking down in tears.

Inspired to get out more in 2025? Shop the best walking shoes

Fans online were touched and inspired by Miranda’s forthrightness, sharing their own experiences.

One Instagram user wrote, “ME sufferer here currently in a relapse. Can totally relate to Miranda. You really appreciate the small victories.”

Later on in the same episode, qualified GP Dr Lucy Loveday and hiker Rhiane Fatinikum joined in to discuss the very real scientific benefits of walking – which include a reduction in cortisol (the stress hormone), a reduction in blood pressure and an increase in heart rate variability.

So, if you can this year, try swapping some gym sessions or home workouts for an hour walking in nature.