Get Outdoors to Improve Your Health from Head to Toe
As the spring season ushers in green leaves, fresh blooms, and warm, glorious weather, we are thinking a lot about the power of nature to transform your health.
So much of our modern lives are spent inside. In fact, it is totally normal to go from home to the office and back again. The only time you see the sun might be the walk to and from your car each day.
This is a stark contrast to how humans have lived for millennia before the modern age of long work days and even longer screen time.
We have to be more intentional about how we spend our time these days, making a point to get outside into nature. It’s well worth the effort!
Spending time outside has a dramatic impact on your health, both physical and mental. So today, we are giving you 7 very compelling reasons to get outside, and some advice about how to do it.
How Much Time is Enough?
We get it, you’re busy! Between working, managing the home, and trying to be social with friends and family, it can be hard to fit in ways to prioritize your own health and wellness.
However, just like it’s important to make time for exercise and eating well, finding time to spend outdoors can have a huge impact on how you feel.
With benefits ranging from improved mental health to lowered risk of heart attack, there are plenty of reasons you should get outdoors.
But how much time is enough?
Well, a 2019 study published in Scientific Reports surveyed almost 20,000 participants, determining that at least two hours per week outside is enough to significantly impact your health.
When you compare that to your daily screen time, it doesn’t seem like too much, does it?
You can make it work for your schedule, opting for a two hour hike on the weekend or breaking it into 20-30 minute walks throughout the week.
7 Reasons to Get Outside
Okay, by now you’re probably wondering, why is nature so good for me?
Well, there are plenty of reasons, but we’ve narrowed it down to seven compelling ways that time spent in nature contributes to better mental health, weight loss, and better health overall.
1. The importance of Vitamin D
When your skin is exposed to UVB rays from the sun, it produces vitamin D, a vitamin which isn’t readily available from your diet outside of fortified dairy, eggs, and fatty fish.
Vitamin D is important because it strengthens your bones, teeth, and muscles. It helps your body absorb calcium and phosphorus which are an integral part of bone health.
Low levels of vitamin D are also associated with increased risk of anxiety and depression, which is why many people experience seasonal depression in the winter. Another benefit of Vitamin D is that it helps to boost your immune system.
About 5-15 minutes of exposure to sunlight a few times a week helps your body to produce enough vitamin D to stay healthy.
2. Strengthened immune system
Vitamin D isn’t the only way that time outdoors can improve your immune system.
Studies show that T-cells in your immune system gain energy when exposed to sunlight. These special cells are responsible for helping your body fight off infections.
We can’t give sunshine all the credit when it comes to a robust immune system, though.
Studies have found that plants release a volatile substance called phytoncides into the air. This substance actually enhance the NK-cells in your immune system.
These cells are responsible for fighting infections and can even help fight cancerous cells. Not only do these phytoncides improve your immune system, they can also lower cortisol and lower your heart rate, reducing stress.
3. other improved health Markers
Vitamin D and your immune system are compelling enough reasons to get outdoors, but did you know that many other aspects of your health are impacted by spending time outside?
We mentioned that time in nature can reduce your cortisol levels, leading to lowered stress and anxiety.
Nature also has a soothing effect on the heart, lowering heart rate and blood pressure, ultimately reducing your risk for heart disease.
Getting outside encourages you to move around by hiking, walking, gardening, fishing, and more. This improved physical activity reduces your risk of type 2 diabetes and cancer in addition to cardiovascular disease.
4. Lessened Anxiety and Depression
We’ve talked a little bit about how time in nature can reduce cortisol and improve anxiety and depression, but that’s not all.
Direct sunlight helps your body to produce serotonin, a hormone that makes you feel calm, happy, and even improves your ability to focus.
In one study that followed 900,000 Danish children between 1985 and 2003, researchers found that the kids who lived nearer to nature were 55% less likely to develop psychiatric disorders in adulthood.
Even just listening to birdsong, watching nature documentaries, or having houseplants is associated with better mental health, but access to green space has the biggest impact on your mental health.
5. Improved sleep hygiene
Sleep architecture includes many stages, and it actually starts during the day. Your sleep is controlled by something called your circadian rhythm, which is highly impacted by light.
Early morning sunlight exposure to your eyes helps to reset your body’s internal clock, setting your body up to sleep soundly that night.
The reduction in stress caused by time spent in nature also contributes to an easier time falling and staying asleep. Studies have shown that afternoon sunlight exposure can also lead to longer periods of restful sleep.
Improved sleep has a big impact on your health, from your immune system, to muscle recovery, and even your cardiovascular health.
6. Better Cognitive ability
Spending excessive time inside has been shown to cause excess stress and mental fatigue, reducing our ability to focus and think clearly.
Time spent outside has been shown to improve attention and focus, especially in kids and adults with ADHD.
Time spent in nature is also associated with enhanced memory and cognitive flexibility, meaning the ability to learn and retain new information.
Taking a break in nature is actually a great way to reset when working on a difficult task, acting as a sort of reset for your brain and allowing you to come back with improved focus.
Many people find that spending time outside helps them to be more creative, removing distractions and allowing your imagination to run wild.
7. Maintain a healthy weight
When you spend time in nature, you are naturally more active. There are plenty of activities you can do when spending time outdoors including walking, running, swimming, gardening, bird watching, and even playing with a pet.
What all of these things have in common is that it helps to get your body moving. Between increased movement and improved sleep, you will burn significantly more calories than you do with a more sedentary lifestyle.
Many studies have shown that prioritizing time outdoors helps you to reach and maintain a healthy weight, also lowering your risk for type 2 diabetes.
How to Find Nature, No Matter Where You Are
While time spent in nature is good for everyone, it’s not always easily accessible.
People who live in more urban areas, who live in lower income areas, who have to work overtime to make ends meet, or people who live with physical disabilities are all examples of people who might not have the privilege to access nature.
Despite this, there are ways to connect with nature, no matter where or how you live. One way is to find a local park that is within driving or walking distance from you.
You can also just go for a walk in your neighborhood and appreciate the plants that are in your own backyard. Maybe you bring the plants to you by starting a container garden on your patio or balcony, or even just keeping a few houseplants.
Another option could be to find a local hiking group where you might be able to connect with other people or families who can help by carpooling to natural spaces further from your home.
Time to Soak Up the Sun
However you choose to spend time in nature, it’s clear that time outdoors has many wonderful benefits to both your mental and physical health.
Time in the great outdoors can improve your levels of vitamin D, strengthen your immune system and other health markers, lessen symptoms of anxiety and depression, improve your sleep and your ability to learn and focus, and finally, maintain a healthy weight.
Just two hours per week of time spent in green spaces can help to improve your health, whether it’s all at once, or in 20-30 minute increments throughout the week.
Don’t let limited access stop you from experiencing the benefits, even your local park or a container garden on your patio or balcony counts as access to nature.
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