There have been increasing amounts of studies and literature linking improved mental health with being in touch with the natural world. Doctors, authors, and artists all seem to be searching for ways to quantify and describe how beneficial nature is for one’s well-being and health. The Canadian Broadcasting Company/Radio Canada produces a regular podcast that focuses on helping people understand the complexities of the brain and mental health, and with the summer winding down, host Roberta Walker turned to nature in one of her latest features.
Walker speaks with different experts who have been researching the effects of exposure to the natural environment to increasingly urbanized humans dealing with high levels of stress. A professor of psychology, Dr. Lisa Nisbet, shares her research alongside other scientists and doctors of varying specialties. What they are finding is that being in nature can not only perk up your mood, but also lower your heart rate and improve your cognition.
One study found that a daily 50-minute walk outdoors led to a 20% improvement in memory and retention. The problem is that people are underestimating the restorative impact nature has on our brains, and trying to rest their minds in other ways such as watching television. In reality that is not resting our minds at all. We currently spend 60% more time outside of work and school consuming information through all of our digital devices than we were in the 1980s.
Taking a walk through the forest may allow your mind to wander to other issues than the path in front of you, but that is exercising a different part of your brain that may be feeling neglected lately. The insights that Walker has pulled together from her interviews aim to help everyone move past underestimating nature.
>> Listen to the Podcast here.
