The Healing Power of Nature: How Spending Time Outdoors Boosts Your Well-Being
Introduction
Have you experienced a sense of complete calm and peace while surrounded by nature? A walk in the park, an impromptu picnic, a nature hike, a camping trip in the mountains—yes, nature is known to have a calming and soothing effect on us. In addition, it is known for its healing qualities for the mind and body.
The best part is, it is free, and people love free things! Given the highly stressed lifestyle we lead, we must spend some time in nature/outdoors to unwind and relax.
The therapeutic nature of nature has been around for ages. Hippocrates emphasised the benefits of fresh air, clean water, and natural surroundings for health and longevity. The nature-based medicines prescribed in traditional Chinese medicine and ancient Indian Ayurveda are beneficial in maintaining the harmony and balance of our body.
Benefits of reading
There are some practices based on scientific research that show the healing powers of nature.
- Biophilia: The Biologist E.O.Wilson, who named the concept of Biophilia, says that humans have an inborn aptitude towards nature owing to our ancestral history of evolution.
Benefits: This reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, and improves our mood. The release of phytoncides (natural compounds released by trees) has mood-enhancing benefits and is known to boost immunity. This also boosts our creativity, improves our cognitive functions, and improves overall health. - Forest bathing: Forest Bathing is a Japanese concept where we connect with nature on a higher mindful level, being a slow and meditative process. Mindfulness is the quality required here to enjoy complete relaxation and rejuvenate ourselves.
Benefits: This reduces cortisol levels, boosts immunity, and lowers blood pressure. Soaking in the sounds, smells and sights of the forest land makes us relax and rejuvenate. - Ocean therapy: Ocean Therapy is also known as Blue Mind Therapy. Connecting to the sounds and sights of the ocean in totality is therapeutic. The sound of the lapping waves, the smell of the salty sea breeze, and the sheer awesomeness of the sky and land all bring about tranquillity and peace.
Benefits: This reduces our feelings of anxiety, stress, and depression. It boosts our creativity and gives rise to a feeling of awe and connection with nature. - Healing gardens: Man-made green spaces like gardens and parks also have therapeutic properties. The greenery/ vegetation, flowing water and sensory-rich habitat are captivating and soothing.
Benefits: This reduces the monotony of our lives and all the stress that is a part of our lives. It fosters our connection with the natural environment.
How being outdoors is beneficial
Spending some time outdoors has various benefits.
- Improves mood: Being outdoors greatly improves our mood and relaxes us. It enhances our focus and concentration, too.
- Reduces stress: Being outdoors reduces our stress and anxiety, thereby negating the chances of contracting chronic ailments.
- Psychological wellness: Being outdoors calms and relaxes us. We feel calm and peaceful, and thereby our psychological wellness improves.
- Boosts immunity: Being outdoors helps to boost our immunity and makes us stronger.
- Creativity: Being outdoors enhances our creativity. The peace we feel, the overwhelming feeling, the sights, sounds, and scents increase our awareness, thereby giving rise to our creativity.
- Connect with nature: Being outdoors fosters our relationship with nature. We undertake activities to preserve nature, plant more saplings, stop felling of trees and preserve the environment for the birds and animals.
- Child’s play: Children play outdoors and participate in nature-based activities greatly improve their concentration, focus, growth and improve their physical and emotional development. They learn to be kind to birds and animals.
- Fight addiction: Nature-based therapy programmes are known to help fight addiction to substances, alcohol, etc.
- Digital detox: Being outdoors is a great way to digitally detox ourselves for that period.
- Healing properties: Being outdoors helps patients, including trauma patients, recuperate and recover as well as reduce their stress.
- Enhances positivity: Being outdoors makes us positive in our outlook and more adept at facing our daily life challenges.
- Relationships: Being outdoors connects us with like-minded people and builds new friendships.
Being outdoors makes us realise that we are minute in the vast expanse of nature and therefore we tend to forget our “so-called miseries” and soak in the atmosphere and live a happy life. There are outdoor activities like nature trails, bird walks, photography walks, camping, to name a few, to choose from.
We need to unwind, and what better way to do so than in the lap of nature. Some doctors prescribe that their patients spend time outdoors to heal.
Recent studies carried out in Australia and the UK show that people who visited parks for 30 minutes or more in a week had fewer instances of increased blood pressure or poor psychological wellness.
Studies also show that people who exercise outdoors have fewer feelings of tension, anger, depression, or confusion, as compared to those who exercise indoors. I guess that is why there are outdoor gyms!
Dean and Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington- Howard Frumkin, in his first clinical studies, states that patients who have had surgeries, who could view trees outside their hospital window, recovered sooner, required less pain medications and had fewer post-op complications, compared to those, who had a view of a brick wall outside their windows. Such is the power of nature.
If we respect and care for nature, we are good. Otherwise, we are aware of the formidable forces of nature! Do your bit to conserve nature and teach others around you the same. For our wellness and that of our children, we need to increase the green cover and preserve the natural resources.
Nature health benefit programmes
- Japan has developed Forest Therapy Centres where people can experience the restorative practice of “Forest Air Bathing.”
- Norway has built recovery rooms in the forest, in which patients can relax in a natural atmosphere and recover.
- The USA has made therapeutic horticultural gardens in a hospital (Legacy Health System, Portland, Oregon) for the use of its patients, their families and hospital staff.
- The Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland, has reserved 2 acres of woodland for veterans with PTSD and other injuries, for their healing.
- In India, there are wellness retreats in various places like the Jindal Nature Care Institute in Bengaluru, the Patanjali Wellness in Haridwar, etc
Remember, exercise, and practice your Yoga outdoors!
