Make Nature Your Daily Friend
As an Eco psychologist, I’ve spent my career studying the deep links between human psychology emotional health (healing and mindfulness), and nature. My research and work have shown me how nature can heal – spending time outdoors can ease mental health problems, cut down on stress and worry, lift spirits and drive, and help us find inner calm and energy again.
In our busy world today, it’s easy to lose touch with the natural patterns that have fed the human mind for thousands of years. We’re inside most of the time, with screens due dates, and a flood of digital input all around us. This modern way of life, while it brings some ease and tech progress, has also led to more and more mental health issues, burnout, and a widespread feeling of being cut off from the world. Yet, the answer to this problem might not be found in digital spaces, but in the natural environment that has influenced our species’ evolution. New studies in ecopsychology – which looks at how human minds and nature affect each other – have uncovered key insights about nature’s ability to heal.
This piece will look at the science behind how embracing nature for healing and mindfulness is beneficial, and explore real ways to add more nature-based activities to our everyday routines. By tapping into the strength of the outdoors, we can get our emotional health back, get in touch with who we are, and feel refreshed and at peace inside.
The Biophilia Hypothesis: Our Built-in Love for Nature
Ecopsychology’s foundation rests on the biophilia hypothesis, an idea famous biologist E.O. Wilson introduced. This hypothesis suggests that people have a natural genetic pull to connect with nature and other living things (Wilson 1984). Our brains are wired to look for and bond with nature, because it’s been key to our survival and growth as a species.
This deep connection to the natural world grew over millions of years, as our ancestors relied on knowing the land, plants, and animals well to stay alive. Our ancestors needed to understand and work with the world around them to find food, build shelter, and find their way. Their lives depended on how well they could interact with nature. The biophilia hypothesis has been endorsed by various studies showing the empirical evidence of it. For instance, a recent meta-analysis of 140 studies has established the fact that the exposure to green areas, even for a short time, can positively affect our mood, reduce stress, and improve cognitive functioning (McMahan & Estes, 2015). These advantages are believed to be rooted in our biological evolution, which has programmed us to look for and get psychological and physiological advantages from being in nature.
When moved to the natural environment, humans have reported increase in health, the first of these findings come from landmark work by Kaplan and colleagues in the 1980s. They found that people when exposed to nature they have lower pain feelings and improved healing processes. Exposure to natural settings made them feel calm.
The Restorative (Healing and Mindfulness) Effects of Nature
According to many scholars’ point of view, one very important medium that causes the nature healing effect is its restorative properties. Attention Restoration Theory, which was established by pair educational psychologists Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, posits that nature exposure can help our brains to recover our lost attention and even our minds to rest, heal, and come back (Kaplan, 1995). Our world is a place filled with noise and activities. The failure of the human mind and how it responds to chimes or beeps is typical to the modern life rhythm. People who spend time in these environments more than any other also exhibit these problems. A clinician maybe one who diagnoses this situation where the brain suffers: the brain needs relaxation and repair in natural areas. Otherwise, the person is stuck in the range of stimuli, leading to mental workouts, irritation, and attention difficulties.
It is understood, of course, that making settings take in nature [forests, parks] facilitate healing or maybe enabling people to find themselves or reconnect to nature in a spiritual sense. These positive effects and others technology has made possible by the natural areas and the categorization of the items have been very high. Inclusion of certain elements like seas and greenery in the design or positioning, traffic sway, and the panels have been raised as an aid to cognition. One of the major restorative forces is considered to be the intrinsic delight and the “soft fascination” that the natural environment triggers (Kellert 1994; Kaplan 1995). In contrast to the directed attention that is required in our daily lives, the natural surroundings usually draw our attention effortlessly, providing our minds with the opportunity to rest and recover (Hartig et al., 1991). Furthermore, the feeling of being away from the daily stresses of life, along with the notion of being part of an environment that is organized and harmonious, along with the restorative processes, are further enhanced to nature (Kaplan, 1995).
The Stress-Reducing Power of Nature
The Innate stress-relieving mechanism of nature is the other major path through which nature brings about its healing effects. Many research studies have established that among individuals who are subjected to natural environments, there are in the main significant declines in the levels of stress hormones such as cortisol and betterments in markers of cardiovascular health, like blood pressure and heart rate variability (Ulrich, 1993; Ulrich et al., 1991; Tyrväinen, Ojala, Korpela & Lanki, 2014). This stress-relieving impact is supposed to be like the evolutionary impulse of our kind to connect with the natural settings of safety and renew (Kellert 1997; Kaplan 1995).
When we immerse ourselves in nature, our bodies and minds respond by shifting into a more relaxed, parasympathetic state, allowing us to recover from the cumulative wear and tear of daily stressors. More than this, the impression of natural environments can bring about a deep sense of peace and relaxation: e.g. the green view, the sound of a water-source, and the smell of the clean air. This multi-sensory experience of nature tends to initiate a chain of sets of physical responses that construct relaxation and well-being (Hartig et al., 2003).
The Mood-Boosting Benefits of Nature
Living in a natural environment not only resounds in minds as restorative and anxiety-reducing but has also been researched as a cause for a great emotional and mental mood improvement. As a matter of fact, several types of research stressed out the truth that staying in nature can promote relief of depression, stress, and other mood disorders (Bratman et al., 2015; Berman et al., 2012).
One measure of why spending time in nature has such great influences besides the natural settings themselves that are associated with facilitating good moods and decreasing detrimental mood states. Our exposure to natural environments can evoke experiences of astonishment, curiosity, and connectedness that have been known to upgrade mood, increase life satisfaction, and feel a sense of personal identity (Schultz, 2002).
Furthermore, the physical activity and exercise, which are often related to outdoor activities, such as hiking, gardening, or simply going for a walk in the park, can also contribute to the mood-enhancing benefits of nature. Physical activity has been widely recognized as an effective intervention for mood disorders, as it can stimulate the release of endorphins, improve self-esteem, and provide a sense of accomplishment and mastery (Ströhle, 2009).
Incorporating Nature-Based Practices into Daily Life
Given the substantial evidence supporting the mental health benefits of engaging with the natural world, it’s clear that embracing nature should be a key component of any holistic approach to emotional healing and rejuvenation. But how can we effectively incorporate more nature-based practices into our daily lives, especially in an increasingly urbanized and technology-driven world?
Here are some practical strategies to enable yourself to get the benefits from nature’s healing power:
Cultivate a Nature-Centered Mindfulness Practice: Mindfulness, the practice of concentrating on the present being and being fully receptive to everything going on around, can gain advantages by associating with nature. Have a go at practising mindfulness by participating in processes that infuse your connection to the natural world with even more energy: These could be forest bathing (immerse yourself in the sights, sounds, and smells of a forested environment), or a nature meditation such as focusing your attention on the sensations and rhythms of the outdoor environment.
Prioritize Outdoor Exercise and Recreation: Instead of restricting your body movements to the confines of the indoor gym or living room, find activities to make you move around in the natural environment. Preferably take a walk, go for a paddling session, or just take a relaxing stroll through a nearby park or nature preserve. The combination of physical activity and nature exposure can be not only simple but also powerful, regarding your mood and overall well-being.
Integrate Nature into Your Daily Routine: Come what may, if you are local to rural areas and cannot be there for long, you may as well include nature in your day to day life and receive some of the benefits there are. For example, you can grow houseplants, put paintings of nature in your rooms, or if possible, open the doors allowing the sound and vision of the area to gently come in.
Engage in Nature-Based Hobbies and Activities: Get introduced to some of the activities and hobbies such as taking care of a garden, watching birds, or collecting wild edibles, which enable you to connect to nature. Gardening, birdwatching, or foraging for wild edibles are among the options to engage with nature that the writer suggests. The main advantage is not only that these hobbies are forms of getting some exercises and also sensory immersion in nature but they are also vehicles to creating powerful bonds with nature and showing it appreciate.
Discover the Nature-based Methods of Therapy: One of the things you can do is consult the concept of nature-based treatments like ecotherapy or horticultural therapy, by adding it to your treatment plan. The following approaches of the natural world provide the psychotherapeutic therapeutic effects in practically any case and often these are set together in a group or community-based type.
In conclusion, when the green practices become a part of our daily life and entwining them with our way of life we can actually possess the deep healing ability of the environment and thus free our inner selves. By doing the above we might be filled with the happiness that was buried deep. in our hearts and the vitality we experienced some time ago will be back again.
References.
Berman, M. G., Kross, E., Krpan, K. M., Askren, M. K., Burson, A., Deldin, P. J., … & Jonides, J. (2012). Interacting with nature improves cognition and affect for individuals with depression. Journal of affective disorders, 140(3), 300-305.
Bratman, G. N., Hamilton, J. P., Hahn, K. S., Daily, G. C., & Gross, J. J. (2015). Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(28), 8567-8572.
Hartig, T., Evans, G. W., Jamner, L. D., Davis, D. S., & Gärling, T. (2003). Tracking restoration in natural and urban field settings. Journal of environmental psychology, 23(2), 109-123.
Kaplan, R., & Kaplan, S. (1989). The experience of nature: A psychological perspective. CUP Archive.
McMahan, E. A., & Estes, D. (2015). The effect of contact with natural environments on positive and negative affect: A meta-analysis. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 10(6), 507-519.
Schultz, P. W. (2002). Inclusion with nature: The psychology of human-nature relations. In P. Schmuck & P. W. Schultz (Eds.), Psychology of sustainable development (pp. 61-78). Springer, Boston, MA.
Ströhle, A. (2009). Physical activity, exercise, depression and anxiety disorders. Journal of neural transmission, 116(6), 777-784.
Tyrväinen, L., Ojala, A., Korpela, K., Lanki, T., Tsunetsugu, Y., & Kagawa, T. (2014). The influence of urban green environments on stress relief measures: A field experiment. Journal of environmental psychology, 38, 1-9.
Ulrich, R. S., Simons, R. F., Losito, B. D., Fiorito, E., Miles, M. A., & Zelson, M. (1991). Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments. Journal of environmental psychology, 11(3), 201-230.
Wilson, E. O. (1984). Biophilia. Harvard University Press.