At least four times a day, my son points to the door and says, “outside?”
Inside, he could be in full tornado mode where he runs around and throws everything in sight on the floor. Once we get outside, he’s calm, curious, happy. It’s quite the phenomenon.
In this post, I want to go through the benefits of nature for mental health.
1. Reduced anxiety
Being in nature calms us down. This is likely an evolutionary response; being near water and areas of natural abundance puts us at ease. As written in a 2012 review:
“…the over-whelming evolutionary experience of human beings as a species involves natural environments, and we are therefore predisposed to resonate with these surroundings, consciously or not.”
Being outside, or even looking at pictures of nature, has been shown to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is a complex series of nerves that lets us relax after periods of stress.
The Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, has been linked with better sleep, lower cortisol, and improved anxiety levels.
This relationship is dose-dependent – the more you spend in nature, the less anxiety you feel. Of course, this only applies to nonthreatening nature when the weather is decent and you’re not being chased by a wild animal.
2. Better mood
Similarly, being in nature can improve depression, with the effects being dose-dependent. Simply put, we’re likely to be happier when we get to spend our leisure time outdoors.
3. Improved concentration
Living in busy cities comes with mental fatigue. Everyone and everything is competing for our attention (I’m looking at you social media.) Attention Restoration Theory explains that nature helps improve our ability to direct our attention. It can improve our concentration via “effortless attention” that we exert while in nature.
In healthcare, we’re constantly interrupted; for instance, emergency physicians are interrupted an average of 12.5 times per hour. At home, as anyone with a toddler knows, I’m interrupted an average of four thousand times an hour. Being better at directing attention sounds fantastic.
Adding more nature to your life
So, how can we put this knowledge into practice? Here’s what I’m going to try based on how much time I have:
If I have 10 seconds, I can look out the window at work and take a couple of deep breaths.
If I have 10 minutes, I can stroll around outside.
If I have an hour, I can hike by the river, like I was doing in the picture for this post.
For my patients with mental health concerns, I’m going to keep recommending a daily walk outside. I think that physical activity and nature is a winning combination.
Stay well friends,
Dr. Kuhnow
Dr. Kuhnow is a family medicine resident physician and former physiotherapist in Ontario, Canada. She writes about healthy habits for healthcare providers on her blog no trophies for perfect. To get healthy habits and practical tips directly to your inbox, sign up for her weekly newsletter.
This post is meant for educational purposes only, and doesn’t replace advice from your qualified healthcare professional. The main references for this post were: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22320203/ and https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11469-020-00363-4.
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