Most everything may be closed but one thing that is still open is the outdoors. We need the healing effects of nature now more than ever. You can still get outside safely while practicing social distancing.
If you’ve been following this newsletter you know this is one of my favorite topics but this week I want to focus on one aspect that is very important right now. Many people are overly stressed. I don’t need to go over why. You know. Just turn on the news if you want to increase your stress and hear about it.
I try my best to avoid the negativity of the news and focus my attention on things that are positive and I enjoy. While doing that I found a research paper from the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences that reviewed many different research papers and put together a comprehensive look at how being in nature improves brain function and mental health. In this article I want to focus on the mental health part of the paper. Decreasing our stress is of utmost importance right now.
Let’s start with a little history.
We have spent most of our evolutionary history outside. It is very recent that we spend most of our days indoors. We began as a hunter gatherer culture and lived that way for thousands of years. Even in our recent history you only have to go back a few generations to find we were almost all working outside and spending the majority of our time in the outdoors. Being in nature is hard wired into out DNA and denying our body and mind that connection to the outdoors could be having negative health effects according to many researchers and psychologists.
Being out in nature has been known to have healing effects for hundreds of years. Back in the 1600’s they were building gardens and courtyards in hospitals because they saw the benefits to patients to be in a natural setting to promote healing.
Being out in nature doesn’t have to mean disappearing into the wilderness for days on end. Going to a local park is enough to reap the benefits. Studies have even shown just having a view of nature can have benefits.
Going outside isn’t just about getting fresh air, natural vitamin d from the sun and exercise. Those things are great, and necessary, but something else is happening that we may not even notice.
Even if it isn’t a time of uncertainty and crisis we are often overstimulated. Being out in nature allows our brain to relax and reset. There is a special form of mental relaxation that happens when we are exposed to natural settings that goes to our core.
An area that has views of water or vegetation and some openness to it can feel more relaxing. When we were hunter gatherers, which we were for much longer than we’ve been domesticated, a view like this would have been beneficial for our survival. We would be able to find food and shelter. It would also make it easier for us to spot and avoid predators.
Even though now you can just leave that setting and go get a meal, at home of course. That feeling of relief and satisfaction will still be within us. Research has shown this can decrease our stress and negative thoughts within minutes.
I’ll cover a few of the studies from this paper in rapid fire.
Two different studies involving people who were mildly stressed were shown pictures of natural settings or urban settings. After viewing the pictures they were asked to self rate how they felt. Positive feelings like elation and affection were higher and feelings of fear were lower in the nature group. The group looking at a city landscape felt increases in aggravation, anxiety and sadness. This is just looking at pictures! Not even actually experiencing nature.
Another study took it a step further. People watched 10 min. of a stressful movie then looked at six different landscapes with sounds for another 10 min. The landscapes ranged from most urban to most natural. The people in the study were monitored with heart rate, sweating, muscle tension and blood pressure sensors. All of the measurements elevated while watching the stressful movie but decreased back to normal quicker if they were looking at natural areas.
One more study, going even deeper, actually took people and put them in either a city or a forest and measured cortisol (a stress hormone), blood pressure and heart rate in each environment. All of the measurements showed decreased stress in the forest vs the city. Using a survey they even found that those people in the study that were dealing with something stressful in their lives had a greater decrease of stress measurements when in the forest.
Putting it together
If you are finding yourself overly stressed take some time to get outside. There are plenty of local places you can go escape the routine of checking the news then your Facebook feed then back to the news.
If you are at a higher risk and don’t want to go anywhere remember even having a view of nature helps. Sitting on your deck and looking over a back yard garden is restorative. Since the studies showed just looking at pictures of nature help I guess you could put the TV to use and watch a nature documentary but being in nature is always your best bet.
The weather is starting to turn so take some time and get outside your brain and body will thank you later.
