Reasons Why You Should Spend More Time In Green Spaces & Nature
Are you doing all you should improve your mental and physical health/ wellbeing? Your wellbeing is the cumulative result of what you do, where you frequent, who you surround yourself with, and what you eat. And as more people research ways of improving overall health for people across the world, it’s becoming increasingly clear that spending time outdoors plays a huge role in your well-being.
And contrary to popular beliefs, you don’t have to pack up for an adventure in the wild for a taste of nature. You can always start your journey to good health by working on your backyard with the help of Lawnista. Even the smallest green spaces could have a great effect on your health.
In this article, we’ll look at the top reasons why the outdoors and green spaces are exactly what you need. It’s time to walk in your backyard barefoot, smell the flowers a little longer, and let the sunshine on you a little longer.
1. Green spaces boost mood
It’s been shown scientifically that nature is a great stress buster, with time spent in green spaces of all kinds, from hiking trails even to coastlines and soccer fields, shown to have immense benefits on your mental health while making you happier. All you need to keep in mind is that when it comes to seeking happiness outdoors, the quality of the green spaces you expose yourself to matters significantly more than the quantity. This observation is supported by a study conducted and published in the BMC Public Health, which showed that the quality of the outdoor spaces you exposed yourself to was more important than the amount of green space you’d be exposed to. That said, it’s important to have access to greenery on a constant basis, which makes well-maintained parks important for city dwellers.
2. Vegetation-rich areas are great for improving your vitality
Scientific studies show that green outdoors and indoor spaces have a great positive impact on your levels of vitality, and spending as little as 20 minutes in areas rich in vegetation capable of enhancing your vitality significantly. These spaces will also boost your emotional strength, which is perhaps why most people will mention or ask you to go for a walk when you are stressed out or feel that your body and mind need a break. So, if you have been looking for healthier ways of boosting your resilience or for you to have more zest in life, you may want to spend a bit more time outdoors.
3. Less likelihood of getting depressed
A 2009 study that was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health showed that individuals that live within 1 kilometer of parks and wooded areas tend to experience anxiety and depression to a lower degree, in comparison to the individuals who live farther from green spaces. It, therefore, means that the incorporation of green spaces into cities would be beneficial to the health of city dwellers.
4. Greenery, whether in the form of parks and plants, are great immune boosters.
Have you been falling ill too often? Perhaps it’s time you spent some time outdoors – that nagging headache could easily be cured by a short walk and around the park or a short hike around the nearest mountain or river.
This has been proven scientifically, and it’s been established that individuals spending time in natural surroundings like parks or forests and other areas with many trees had an improvement in their immune function. This has been attributed to the presence of phytoncides, which are airborne chemicals emitted by plants, protecting them from rotting and also from insect infestations. These chemicals have been shown to be quite beneficial to human beings too. In Japan, for example, people have made it a practice to visit forests in a therapeutic process known as Forest Bathing or Shinrin-yoku.
Spending time among plants has also been shown to reduce the level of cortisol, the stress hormone, blood pressure, as well as your pulse rate.
So, if you have been feeling out of sorts for some time now, that might be your cue to spend more time outdoors. You also need sunlight for generation and the activation of Vitamin D that improves your body’s ability to fight and prevent cancer and osteoporosis. And to reiterate, spending time in and with nature naturally boosts your happiness levels.
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