benefits of nature and nature bathing
Written by: Heidi Neubauer
Nature Bathing
20 -90 minutes of Nature is the most beneficial for mental health, gardening, nature-based therapies, and exercising in green spaces, which are also the most beneficial for adults.
"Improving Respiratory Health: Air pollution can lead to allergies and asthma. Indoor concentrations of air pollutants are 2-5x higher than outdoor concentrations.
Spending more time in natural green spaces could help lower your risk of respiratory concerns.
Improved sleep: your body’s internal clock follows the sun, making you feel awake during the daytime and sleepy at night.
Sunlight affects your circadian rhythms more than electric light.
Sunlight improves sleep by:
Helping you feel more tired at night
It shortens the time it takes to fall asleep
improves the quality of sleep
Best of all, sunlight costs nothing, so step outside.
Reduces depression: Sunlight can often help ease depression symptoms like low mood and fatigue. Light therapy can help treat both major depression and seasonal depression. Some people believe sunlight has a protective effect since it can help your body produce vitamin D. It’s also possible that sunlight improves sleep, reducing the severity of depression symptoms.
More motivated to exercise: Working out in green spaces could help boost your motivation to exercise in the future, in part because outdoor exercise can:
Offer a nice change of pace from gyms and make physical activity more interesting and enjoyable
This will make socializing easier, as many gyms have unspoken rules about not chatting with the person on the treadmill next to you.
Feel easier and less strenuous, according to a 2013 research,
suggesting people who walk outside tend to exercise at a greater intensity and report less exertion.
It doesn’t have to be strenuous exercise. Any activity that gets your body moving in a way that’s doable for you, like gardening, playing with your dog at the park, or washing your car, can offer some health benefits.
Mental Health and Restoration: Outdoor exposure is effective in managing stress. It can regulate the sympathetic nervous system, and doing so regularly (outdoor exposure to green spaces) lowers the risk of chronic disease, illness, and mortality.
Prolonged immersion in nature has shown promise as a way of managing PTSD.
It creates better cognitive functions -like memory, attention, creativity, and sleep quality.
Being present in Nature does not require anything from us; it frees our minds to think clearly and deeply about things.
The modern world contains many intrusive stimuli — flashing screens, vibrating phones, rumbling roadways — competing for our limited attention. This ongoing overstimulation may raise your stress levels without you even realizing it.
The natural world offers us mental and emotional refuge when we need to unwind and decompress.
Research from 2020 suggests spending time in nature can help you feel more relaxed and focused, especially when you take the time to notice your surroundings. Consider doing slow-paced, contemplative activities like hiking in the woods or kayaking on a lake to get these benefits.
Boosting Immune function: you’re less likely to contract the virus that causes COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2), not to mention other viruses, when outside. That’s because air circulation can dilute the presence of viruses in the air. In fact, according to 2021 research, the chances of transmission are 18.7 times higher indoors than outdoors.
Spending time outdoors can help your immune system function optimally. Microorganisms found in nature that aren’t dangerous can run practice drills with your immune system, in a manner of speaking, to help prepare it for more serious infections.
So, while soap is a wonderful invention, getting muddy occasionally can be good for you, too.
Protection from shortsightedness: Some evidence suggests that children who spend plenty of time outside have a lower chance of developing myopia or nearsightedness.
One 2020 study included 10,743 children between the ages of 9 and 11 in Taipei.
Researchers found that children who spent more time outside at recess were 22 percent less likely to develop myopia than their peers.
Increasing the eye-work distance when doing close-up work and taking a break after 30 minutes of close-up work also offered some protection.
Experts have suggested a few potential reasons why spending time outside might help protect against myopia:
Natural light offers a brighter and richer collection of light wavelengths with which to see.
The outdoors lets your eye practice looking at objects from various distances.
Light stimulates the retina to produce dopamine, which prevents your eyeballTrusted Source
from stretching out and warping your vision. This theory has only been tested in animals, though.
This benefit seems to affect the eye only while it grows, so spending time outside can’t reverse myopia in adulthood.
However, regular outdoor activities in childhood, like playing catch, swimming, and sledding, might save your kid a trip to the optometrist. An added bonus: They also offer great opportunities for family bonding.
Improved emotional well-being: Outdoor time can do more than help relieve unwanted or painful emotions like fear, worry, and sadness. It also promotes emotions you want to feel more of, like happiness, peace, and optimism.
Going outside at night can also leave you feeling awe and connection with the world. Plus, the drop in noise and light can help you focus on the world around you more easily. Consider nocturnal activities like stargazing or night fishing if you’d like to forge a deeper or more spiritual connection with the nighttime natural world.
References: https://www.healthline.com/health/health-benefits-of-being-outdoors#emotional-wellness