There’s something hypnotic about staring at a tree swaying in the wind. We all know that spending time in nature is good for us, but how good is it and why? I’ve gathered some of the research here so you can enjoy the many and varied benefits of being in the great outdoors.
Escape Chemicals
Look around your room, and you will see all the bountiful fruits of materials science. Industrially produced building materials, furniture, and smaller items surround you from every angle. Unfortunately, these materials shed particles into the air we breathe, and some are quite toxic. One benefit of spending time outdoors is escaping the chemical soup we usually reside in.
According to the EPA, the concentration of some chemicals is 2 to 5 times higher indoors than outdoors. You may recognize some of the most common chemicals: carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, benzene, phthalates, radon, and so many more. Keep your body healthy by spending more time outdoors.
Can Being In Nature Make You A Kinder Person?
Social psychologist Paul Piff says that the world becomes larger when we look up from our screens. He and his team did a series of studies on the psychological state of awe and its impact on prosocial behavior.
One of the studies asked participants to look up at towering trees for one minute and then were tested for prosocial behavior and a sense of entitlement. Compared to the control group, their scores were better. We can only speculate on the mechanism of action for this effect, but the positive impact on our psychology is evident.
Wellbeing
What might be unclear is how much time we should spend to get the best return for our time. A 2019 study published in Scientific Reports set out to determine the exposure-response relationship of nature exposure. They studied the wellbeing of nearly 20,000 survey participants and compared that to the time they spent outdoors.
An individual’s level of wellbeing rose with more exposure but maxed out around 3 to 5 hours a week. It took two hours to get most of the benefits before diminishing returns kicked in. It made no difference if the time accumulated all at once or in smaller chunks over the week.
Mental illness is on the rise, and it’s well established that living in the city puts one at a higher risk, though we haven’t empirically determined why. A study in Psychological and Cognitive Sciences found out if we can lower mental illness with exposure to nature.
They led participants through a natural environment for 90 minutes, then measured their levels of rumination (repetitive thought directed towards negative features of the self) and neural activity in a brain area associated with mental illness called the subgenual prefrontal cortex.
The study demonstrated significantly lower scores for both measurements compared to the control. There is a growing body of evidence for the link between mental illness and urbanization, and the author suggests that this study shines a light on what could be the mechanism of action.
To get the most out of our time in nature, we can take a lesson from the Japanese. In the 1980s, they created the concept of shinrin-yoku, or “forest bathing.” It requires no exercise and, of course, no bathing. You are meant to bathe your senses in the environment, to absorb the atmosphere of the forest. It’s not enough to just be there.
Be present and tune in to your senses. Silence is encouraged. What does the air taste and smell like? Listen to the wind, the water flowing, and the creatures making their busy sounds.
Notice the various colors of leaves, the ripples of water, and swaying of the trees. You don’t have to be the tree-hugging type to involve your sense of touch. Find a seat on the grass and comb your fingers through while you soak up the sun.
