The natural remedy for stress
The natural remedy for stress
Here our nature loving Helen explores why nature is good for our wellbeing and shares some ideas on how to harness the stress busting power of nature.
Like many people, I just adore being outdoors and around nature. I find that nature grounds me and helps me to feel balanced. It helps me to sort through my thoughts and to find calm and order in my busy, messy mind. And I love that nature always provides a metaphor for whatever is going on in my life, and by following that metaphor, I can work out what I need to do next – if indeed I need to do anything at all.
As we are in the final week of Stress Awareness Month I thought it would be good to share some ways in which we can all benefit from having nature in our lives. But first, let’s look at some of the reasons why it makes us feel so good!
A study* found scientific evidence that spending time in nature reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The optimum time is 20-30 minutes. After that, the reduction slows, however the time is still beneficial. It didn’t matter if the people were walking or sat still, in a city park, garden, by the sea or in the middle of the countryside. Just being in amongst nature created this drop in cortisol levels.
In my blog in the first week of April, we discovered that stress responses create an increase in cortisol levels, so anything that can reduce them is going to be beneficial in managing stress. There are also many other benefits of spending time in nature including:
- Help you to feel more relaxed
- Improving both physical and mental health
- Help you to be more active
- Boost your mood
- Reduce feelings of loneliness
- Boost your self-esteem and confidence levels
With all of these benefits, it makes sense to make the most of the world around us and to find ways to connect with nature. It can sometimes be hard to find the motivation or the time to do this in our often busy lives. So here are ten ideas to get you started:
- Spend time with your pet
- Bring the outside in and add some house plants into your home
- Place a houseplant or flowers on your desk
- Sit in your garden and see what wildlife you can spot
- Go for a walk in the park
- Visit a local nature reserve
- Watch a nature programme
- Move a work meeting to be outdoors
- Have an alfresco dinner or picnic
- Listen to a soundtrack of singing birds or crashing waves
Find what works for you and then why not schedule some time in your diary each day to reap the rewards that nature gives to us – and the best thing of all is that it is totally free!
*According to a study in the 4th April 2019 journal; Frontiers in Psychology.
