The Best Medicine You Can Take

Today we are going to cover a topic that is central to my life and my health.

Nature!

I realized the other day, when talking with a client, that those who know me well (friends and family) know that I love to be outside. Hiking, walking, laying on the beach, having a cocktail on the deck, enjoying morning tea on the porch, helping Rj at art shows, windows down in the car vs. air conditioning. Walking around cities, walking in the woods, siting on a park bench people watching, siting on the beach sleeping – it really makes no difference.

I love nature.

Trees, grass, birds, waves, sand, sidewalks, flowers, snow – you name something in nature, and I love to stare, smell, listen, contemplate, appreciate whatever is in front of me.

But when talking with this client, I realized that I haven’t shared the health benefits of nature in detail before! Sure, I always suggest getting outside, whether for a break in your work day, for some needed physical activity during a day of sitting, or for enjoyment with the family.

And as much as I like to believe my clients trust my recommendations, it never hurts to provide some scientific evidence. Sometimes just feeling better isn’t enough for us – we have to prove that what we’re doing is ‘right’ according to some very highly educated people.

So to reinforce my love of nature, and to prove to all those who so want to go outside more often but feel guilty not being inside doing emails, here are three scientific reasons why being outside is good for you:

Vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency has become more of a concern lately because our lifestyles have become less outdoor focused. Kids don’t go out and play as much as they used to due to electronic interaction and grown-ups don’t go out as much as they used to because we’re always working. The sun provides our bodies with much needed Vitamin D. Sure, you can get that in a pill, but why not get it from the source?
Mind Numbing. OK, I took a little bit of ‘scientific wording’ license on this one. But the point is the same. When you’re outside in nature, your mind tends to slow down, relax, calm down. The science piece of this is that when walking outside, electrochemical changes occur in your brain, calming you down. Sure, you can get that in a pill, but again, why not go to the source?
Circadian Rhythms. These natural rhythms in our bodies tell us when it’s time to be awake, or time for sleep. Just as taking a melatonin pill triggers your body’s ‘sleep’ mode, exposing yourself to sunlight will trigger your body’s ‘awake’ mode. You might notice this in the morning if the curtains are drawn and it’s dark in your room. The moment you let the sunlight in – you feel much more awake. Caffeine also helps, but sunlight is much more natural.

Being in nature has been proven to improve your physical health because we tend to engage in more activities requiring movement (walking, running, biking, skiing, playing, raking, shoveling, swimming).

Being in nature has been proven to improve your mental health because when outside in nature we allow our minds to relax. Additionally, we tend to engage our other senses to the benefit of our overall mood. A breath of fresh air smells so good as much as it triggers our parasympathetic nervous system to relax. A beautiful flower brings our eyes happiness so much more than that urgent email from our boss. Our bodies feel these triggers and react accordingly.

So yeah, the great outdoors is good for your health.

But REALLY, the great outdoors is good for your health!

Now that science has proven that we need to go outside and enjoy our surroundings more often, it is officially OK to do so.