Nature is a wonderful thing, and some studies suggest it even has healing powers, at least when it comes to your mood and some mental health issues. Even your immune system can benefit from being outside more.
If you find that you’re inside more than out, it’s a good idea to find some time to get outdoors a little more – there are many benefits you can get from doing this, and some might surprise you. Read on to find out what they are.
Stress Reduction
The world is a stressful place a lot of the time. Whether you’re listening to the news, reading social media posts, or feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work you have to do, it’s easy to feel crushed by the stress you are feeling. There is a solution; go outside.
Just spending time in nature, breathing in the fresh air on a walk, or even standing in your yard and admiring the trees around you, can be enough to help lower your blood pressure and reduce the stress you might be feeling. You’ll produce less cortisol and adrenaline (stress hormones) and more serotonin (‘happy’ hormones), and you’ll therefore feel a lot better in general. When you go back inside or go back to what you were doing, solutions might even come more easily to you.
Faster Healing
If you have been ill or perhaps injured or had surgery, you’ll know that the recovery process can be long and painful. The longer it takes, the more frustrated you’ll become, and this can slow the healing process down even more due to stress.
However, it is said by researchers that if you spend some time outdoors during your recovery period, you are likely to get better much more quickly. Whether you wear your Just-glasses.co.uk sunglasses and sit in your yard with a good book, or you go for a walk along the beach or in the forest, your body will heal much faster. Why this happens is still being looked into, but it might be due to the hormones you create when in nature or the fact that you’re distracted from how you feel, and therefore you aren’t so anxious about it, allowing the healing process to take place.
Improves Your Focus
It might sound strange that stepping away from work and forgetting about it by going outside for a little while can help you focus on that work more, but it’s true. Being out in nature allows the brain to take a natural break from everything that’s going on. You’ll feel less mentally drained, and you’ll be able to focus more on the important things you need to do. Some studies suggest that being outdoors can even reduce the symptoms of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).
If you find that you have trouble focusing every now and then (or more than that), go outside, take a deep breath, and take the time to gather your thoughts. It should help you to put everything into perspective and be more productive.
