Walk In Nature To Reduce Stress

Walk In Nature To Reduce Stress

Nature gives the brain a sense of calmness and peace. The presence of trees, water, and open spaces of greenery transition the mind into feeling an escape from everyday concerns. It brings simplicity back to life.

We tend to complicate the cures for anxiety and depression when in fact being in a calm and natural environment may just be what we need.

Walk in nature to reduce stress
Walk in nature to reduce stress

Improve your focus and attention

So what if you don’t have a park on the route to work or cannot give up the highway commute?

There is still hope. The Journal of Environmental Psychology suggests that even small mental breaks viewing nature can help aid in psychological issues such as reduced attention span.

The study looked at subjects that viewed either concrete or green spaces and found that the ones who viewed the natural environment made fewer errors and were more consistent in responding to given tasks.

Living and working surrounded by thousands of people and concrete drain your mental resources that are critical for attention. While in opposition, viewing trees, parks, and green spaces on a regular basis, helps create a more calm and active mind.

It changes the brain.

And not only are the people who have more exposure to natural settings mentally healthier, but they also enjoy a higher quality of physical health as well.

A convincing example in the New Yorker, What a Tree is Worth, by Alex Hutchinson,  showed that patients given hospital rooms that looked over spaces with trees as opposed to a brick wall, recovered faster. In fact, researchers are discovering that surrounding yourself with nature can be one of the most powerful stress relievers out there.

As unlikely as it is to take a twenty-minute detour for a scenic route or to move to a park surrounding area, there are small changes that you can implement into your life today. Change your desktop background to outdoor scenery or hang visual art of the sky and ocean on your wall.