Picture this…
You’re walking in Newlands forest, early in the morning. The gravel crunches under your feet, You hear the birds chirp and feel the crisp morning air. The gentle incline has you feeling the muscles in your legs and has your heart beating a little faster as you work off the stasis of the night’s sleep. You take a less trodden path and walk along as pine needles underfoot produce a pleasant bounciness. You hear a stream and decide to head towards it, the tinkling sound of the water draws you nearer. You scramble over some rocks and sit by the water, watching the little creatures inside swim around. You breathe in the fresh air and feel truly alive.
Do you feel much more relaxed after contemplating this scenario?
In one study it was shown that surgical patients whose hospital rooms had windows with views of natural settings had shorter hospital stays and took fewer pain medications than those whose windows faced a brick building wall.
Our brains and bodies work better when exposed to nature.
Green exercise has been shown to have many positive short- and long-term benefits. Not only does it increase physical vitality by lowering blood pressure, but it decreases anxiety and increases mood and self-esteem. Imagine that, a walk in the forest makes you like yourself more and makes you feel happier. Green spaces are also a great place to make new friends as they increase social ties and develop communities. Neighbourhoods with parks have stronger social bonds than those without.
Have you ever heard someone talk about their garden as their happy place?
It may be because there are microbes in the soil that produce serotonin, one of our happy hormones. Playing in the dirt can have the same effect as Prozac, just without the symptoms of nausea, drowsiness, dizziness, anxiety… etc. Exposure to bugs is also a great way to help decrease susceptibility to immune disorders such as asthma and hayfever. This is because our sterile indoor environments don’t train our immune systems into tip-top shape so they start doing strange things and attack our own bodies.
Being outside is good for your eyes.
Rates of near-sightedness have increased constantly over the last decades. It seems there’s a link between myopia and limited outdoor time during childhood because kids never have to look off into the distance. Our eyes are made for open planes but we constantly put things ( like cellphones) right in front of them. Exposure to natural light vs artificial lighting has many benefits in itself. In the presence of sunlight, your body makes disease-fighting vitamin D and regulates its day-night cycles for better sleep.
Walking in nature is also incredibly beneficial to your joints.
Flat surfaces make flat feet. We have a habit of putting shoes on and walking on flat terrain. This causes the rest of your body, including your spine, to have to compensate for the change. Walking on rocky paths is definitely not going to involve walking on flat surfaces! Walking on uneven rocks is fantastic for developing improved joint position sense as well as for stimulating the different muscles and joints of the feet.
Take off your shoes for an even better effect!
There is new information emerging about our body’s ability to absorb free electrons from the earth through our hands and feet thus neutralising harmful free radicals and reducing inflammation in our bodies. Hello less arthritis, chronic pain, depression, and insomnia from a little electrical reconnection to the earth. If they put that in a pill that had only positive, and no negative side effects, it would fly off the shelves!
Connection to nature enhances connection to self.
A concept that we’re familiar with here at Peak. Our internal brain-body connection is the start of all other ties and it’s difficult to feel like yourself when your nervous system is continually sending alarm signals to your brain. Having your nervous system working at optimal capacity helps you to cope better with some of life’s less than optimal behaviours, and reap greater rewards from all of your healthy ones.
So get adjusted, take off your shoes, and enjoy all of the benefits that nature has to offer!
