5 Benefits of Outdoor Activity
Physical activity offers many mental and physical health benefits.
What if a change in location exponentially increased benefits?
The living space of modern people has dramatically changed from more time outdoors to spending more than 85% of our daily lives indoors, mostly due to developments in technology for work (and now, online socializing). This adds a new stress to our body’s systems. Outdoor physical activity, also called Green Exercise, makes people happier, less fatigued, less angry, more tranquil and relaxed, and provides a longer lasting energy boost compared to indoor exercise. Green exercise is more restorative to your mind and body and is more likely to increase a person's frequency of exercise because it feels good. Have you been feeling stuck inside this season?
How is Green Exercise better than indoors?
Mood and Mental Health: Even five minutes of green exercise (like walking across a park or campus) is proven to boost self-esteem and mood. German researchers recorded data in 2019, from 1000+ people taking walks in nature and found it can ‘un-do’ or decrease the effects of a stressful life event, improves depression, positive feelings and overall mental well-being. The World Health Organization (WHO) agrees and has analyzed data indicating that physical activity in a natural environment can help remedy mild depression and reduce the body’s physiological stress markers.
Stress hormone levels drop: Researchers found that just a 20-minute nature experience was enough to significantly reduce cortisol levels, when compared to a group who walked in the laboratory on treadmills. If you spend a little more time immersed in a nature experience, 20 to 30 minutes walking (or sitting), cortisol levels dropped at their greatest rate.
Immune system changes: Stress hormones can interfere with our immune defenses; especially with our white blood cell frontline defenders, such as antiviral natural killer cells. In a 2007 study, people taking two-hour walks in the woods over a two-day period showed a 50% increase in levels of natural killer cells; the body's disease fighting agents. While more research is needed, possible anti-cancer benefits were seen in a 2008 study of nurses on a three-day nature trip. The trip produced anti-cancer proteins (not measurable beforehand) and the benefits lasted more than 7 days afterward.
Trees & Aromatherapy effects: “Shinrin Yoku” translates, from Japanese, to “Forest bathing” which is a short, leisurely visit to a forest for relaxation and recreation while experiencing what is considered natural aromatherapy. During forest bathing breathing in volatile substances, called phytoncides (wood essential oils), which are antimicrobial volatile organic compounds (VOCs) derived from trees. Studies have demonstrated a wide array of health benefits, especially for the cardiovascular and immune systems, and for stabilizing and improving mood and clear thinking (cognition).
Meditative/Mindfulness possibilities in nature: There is something unique about being outside, even without exercising, that brings us back to present moment of feelings and to our body sensations. Outside, it is somehow easier to shed worries, inner dialogues and mental ruts, and just feel our bodies in concert with nature. Researchers have been exploring comparisons of nature’s benefits with the qualities of meditation. Even for people who might find “mindfulness” or other meditation practices difficult to embrace, we all know that meditation has proven to have great health benefits. All meditation practices are centered upon tuning out the past and future and “being in the present moment,” and the experience of just being out in nature has been measured to show similar effects. In 2016, German researchers concluded that outdoor excursion experiences showed improved psychological factors normally associated with resilience, well-being, and good mental health, which are typically measurable in people who meditate regularly. Also, in 2016, University of Virginia professors found that natural settings invoke “involuntary attention,” allowing room for contemplation and restoration of mental energy, as well as encouraging the sensation of “being away.”
NOTE: Available Green Benefits while you are stuck Indoors... Researchers suggest people living in areas with more green space had cortisol (stress hormone) patterns that indicated better stress regulation. Additional research teaches us that indoor plants and / or access to looking out a window at a natural environment can also reduce physiological and psychological stress during mental work. It has shown decreased diastolic blood pressure measures and reports of more comfortable and soothed feelings, compared to those without plants or a view.
To Do List:
Prepare for weather and safety & get outside!
Buy a green plant for your desk :)
