Recently, people have had more reasons to stay indoors than ever before. It is important that we keep our health and safety at the forefront of our priorities. But it is also important to remember the effect that being inside for too long can have on you. Being outside and connecting with nature has proven benefits to your health.
Fact, nature walks can improve your memory. Have you been feeling scatter brained the more cooped up you have been in your house? A study done in 2008 by psychologists Marc G. Berman, John Jonides, and Stephen Kaplan ran experiments to show that walking in nature can improve memory, or what they refer to as “attention restoration theory.” (1)
Fact, nature can improve your health. I don’t just mean by extracting important medicine from vital plants, or essential oils. I am talking about Vitamin D directly from the sun. Just because we do not photosynthesize like plants, doesn’t mean we do not gain anything from a little sunlight. Vitamin D is necessary to our body and, according to Harvard’s Health Department, is potentially linked to fighting diseases like cancer. (2)
Fact, walking through nature can relieve stress. Scientists led by Liisa Tyrvainen of the Finnish Forest Research Institute ran a psychological investigation into the psychological impacts being in nature had on stress levels. Their findings “suggest that even short-term visits to nature areas have positive effects on perceived stress relief compared to built-up environment.” (3)
Fact, outdoor time is imperative for childhood development. According to the Child Mind Institute (4), playing outdoors is important to children for a variety of reasons such as reducing stress and fatigue, to building confidence. The outdoors provides kids with a stimulating environment that allows them to safely engage in independent and creativity inducing scenarios. Without a phone screen constantly supplying thoughtless entertainment, they are challenging themselves to provide their own entertainment by interacting with the world around them.
The Sawgrass Nature Center hosts a unique environment for people of all ages to engage with nature and enjoy wildlife. By visiting you are not only providing yourself with a healthy walk through nature and a chance to see interesting wildlife, you are also helping to sustain a center that has been protecting and healing Florida’s native wildlife for twenty-five years.
Citations:
- Berman MG, Jonides J, Kaplan S. The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting with Nature. Psychological Science. 2008;19(12):1207-1212. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02225.x
- Harvard Health Publishing. Spending time outdoors is good for you, from the Harvard Health Letter. Harvard Medical School. July, 2010. https://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/spending-time-outdoors-is-good-for-you
- Liisa Tyrväinen, Ojala A., Korpela K., Lanki T., Tsunetsugu Y., and Kagawa T. The influence of urban green environments on stress relief measures: A field experiment. Journal of Environmental Psychology. June 2014. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494413000959
- Cohen, Danielle. Why Kids Need to Spend Time in Nature. Child Mind Institute. September 2020. https://childmind.org/article/why-kids-need-to-spend-time-in-nature/