Most of us are aware that spending time in nature is good for us. Not so many, however, can say exactly why this is the case. Although understanding the exact reasons why the natural world can positively influence your general well-being isn’t going to increase the benefit, it might just inspire you to get out there and spend more time in our planet’s very own, natural quality-of-life-enhancer - nature itself. Below, we’ve listed five of these reasons in hope of doing just that…
Exercise - The Planet’s Biggest, Open-Air Gym!
Spending time in the outdoors and getting in some healthy exercise tend to go hand in hand. From a gentle walk in the woods to canoeing in a lake to hitting the trails in our national or state parks, the great outdoors
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We’re now working more and spending more time connected to ‘stressors’ such as phones, tablets and computers than ever before, and the corresponding increase in anxiety, stress and mental overload has meant that true relaxation is a luxury very few of us get to experience. Getting off the grid and leaving those emails and messages behind is almost a sure-fire way to help you unwind and truly take a breather. Doing so not only gives your brain time to ‘switch-off’ and normalize, but has been shown to significantly reduce cortisol levels and lower heart …show more content…
Our lifestyles are more sedentary than at any other time in human history and our diets richer, our portions bigger, and calories far more easily come by than was the case for our ancestors. As a result, our waistlines have ‘evolved’ correspondingly. Basically, we’re getting fat! As we all know, the consequences of weight gain are not merely aesthetic or visual, and piling on a few extra pounds can lead to far more serious health issues such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure, not to mention the toll it can have on your self-esteem. While heading into the outdoors isn’t a guarantee of weight loss, when combined with a healthy diet it is a far more effective calorie-killer, we’re sure you’ll agree, than sitting on your ass and running the risk of succumbing to a dose of sitting disease
There is this feeling we all experience when we step away from the chaos of rushing cars, infrastructure, and artificial lights, and we step into nature. Some describe it as bliss, comfort, excitement, pleasure or just pure happiness. This is the answer to the question Paul Bloom asks “Why should we care about nature?” in his article “Natural Happiness.” Paul goes through this process in which he uncovers the fact that “real natural habitats provide significant sources of pleasure for modern humans”, regardless of our need for food, clean water, and air. There are 3 main arguments that Paul makes in this article that I find particularly interesting, they include: “Our hunger for the natural is everywhere. In many regards our species has already kissed nature goodbye, and we are better off for it. There is a considerable mismatch between
Richard Louv, the author of, “Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from nature deficit-disorder,” talks about nature and its benefits to a healthy development. Time Experiencing with nature allows people to have healthy development since it promotes creativity and imagination. It does not take more than a couple of steps outside to see nature. It is all around us. It can even be right outside our window. Leaving the blinds open can bring peace of mind, just by viewing it. As people experience time with nature, no matter the age, they develop greater creativity and imagination. It is like people today fear nature.
Since the dawn of humanity, exercise has been crucial for physical survival. In recent times, however, exercise is losing its significance to human survival. Some would argue that it already has lost its significance, and as exercise becomes less important, people exercise less. According to fitness.gov, only 33% of adults receive the recommended amount of physical activity each week (citation). Clearly there is a problem. However, there is still a fraction of the population that exercises diligently. Why do these people stick with it? Exercise has countless advantages that are still extremely important to our lives. So even though the need of exercise may appear to be diminishing, the practical effects should be enough to encourage people
Everywhere we look, we are encircled by nature and its wonders. Nature comes in many different ways. It depends on us how we view nature. Everyone has their own opinion and reaction to nature. When we hear nature the first thing that comes to our mind is trees, flowers, mountains, waterfalls and many others. Flowers have their own significance which lightens up life. We all admire flowers and love their natural scent and colors. They make any occasion colorful. I went to Butchart Garden in Victoria, Canada and this is where I fell in love with nature.
When I think of the perfect place, I imagine a cascading waterfall, a vast forest, a stunning mountainside, or a warm sunset on the beach. I look up around me, mesmerized by the vastness of the natural world and breathe in the fresh air. Over the course of my life, I have come to respect the environment and the earth’s natural surroundings in ways that most others do not in the industrialized and technological era of today. I can appreciate the beauty of the Earth and of all the different landscapes and organisms that surround me. The way in which I value and treasure the environment has evolved just as I have. I see the environment as something to be preserved and admired, not destroyed or exploited. My relationship with the environment is
On the other hand, nature elements are proven to restore attentional fatigue and contribute both psychological and physiological benefits (Hartig et al., 2003; Ulrich & Simons, 1986; Ulrich et al., 1991). R. Kaplan and Kaplan (1989) proposed a restorative environment requires four features: being away, extent, fascination and compatibility to promote recovery from attentional fatigue. In natural environment, urban dwellers can obtain a sense of freedom from daily routine and projects that require massive mental efforts (being away). Nature usually has abundant and coherent landscape structures. It encompasses trails for exploration (extent), and many attractive elements, such as: animals, trees or plants, water features (fascination), and it
To understand the nature-society relationship means that humans must also understand the benefits as well as problems that arise within the formation of this relationship. Nature as an essence and natural limits are just two of the ways in which this relationship can be broken down in order to further get an understanding of the ways nature and society both shape one another. These concepts provide useful approaches in defining what nature is and how individuals perceive and treat
The benefits that we get from the nature are ES and it is indispensable for our overall development and prosperity.
It is understandable that friends, family and a social life exists and that also needs to be taking care of. Exercise reduces stress, improves your sleep and from it allows you to gain a social aspect consider as new friends. If exercised daily or even when there is time during the week it will improve and change your life allowing you to not fall asleep or be tired all the time. It will reduce stress by being distracted on productive activities like playing tennis, going hiking, running at the park or even walking around the neighborhood. This activities when applied are best rather than thinking about work all the time, even on days off, this activities will have a positive impact on depression, anxiety and help your body use oxygen more efficiently to improve breathing. As you pick up the pace, the body, like any engine, produces heat — and needs to cool off. The blood vessels in the skin dilate, increasing blood flow to the skin. The heat then dissipates through the skin into the air.
There exists various lifestyles and behaviours, ranging from amount of nutrition intake, mental well-being, to the amount of physical activity engaged individually. Weighing the abundance of factors, this essay primarily aims to focus on the aspect of physical activity in relevance to how it possibly affects one's lifestyle. By cross-referencing to other lifestyles and behaviours, this essay will also demonstrate the importance of physical activity in possibly alleviating the issues raised pertaining to other lifestyles as well. Throughout this essay, there will be frequent references to the socio-ecological framework in examining the aforementioned factors.
Even though stress isn’t always a major issue as everyone gets stressed out every once in a while, stress does have a long-term effect on peoples physical and mental health. In this study, 15 people completed a 6-week aerobic exercise program, another 15 people completed a weight training program the same amount of time and then there was a control group, who didn’t do any training program. This study shows that the 15 people who completed the aerobic program had the greatest reductions in stress and recovery in response to it. Most exercise is good for relieving stress of any kind but according to this study, aerobic exercise has the most
No matter how much research is done, it is obviously known that humans will never be able to fully understand the phenomenon of the natural world, yet it is something that we still continue to explore and work with each and every day. As The Red Turtle simply explains to the viewer, nature is something that is full of chaos and unpredictability, yet it is beautiful in it’s own way and worth exploring. In today’s world of the twenty-first century, it is quite easy to see that humans are dominating the natural world. Mainly, I believe that nature is a big provider for our health and happiness, but in order to sustain this relationship, the human population must also provide for the natural world and keep the common peace.
Science is about understanding and building knowledge about how the natural world works. It explains the inter-relationship with one's life and nature and promotes environmental education and more so environmental habits. Science teaches us as learners’ important skills such as reasoning, problem solving, analyzing, predicting, etc. It builds a foundation by providing a base in case a child does not go to higher level of education. Since science is all around us it is important to teach it so that the children could learn about themselves and their environment. Science also provides the knowledge needed to create new pieces of technology, which scientists used to develop civilization. For example, rather than writing
Outdoor recreation is something that everyone needs. Finding that place within yourself that allows you to forget about everything. Whether that be playing with your kids in the nearby park, fishing with your grandfather, hiking with someone or just by yourself you learn something new about yourself. Some people use recreation to forget about something and they use being outside as a calming effect. Williams and Stewart (1998) believe that nature, as a place, creates an emotion bond, has a complex meaning to the person, and that people have this draw back to the place. To get the same feeling that someone would get while doing an activity in nature to simulate Williams and Stewart’s (1998) belief, I recently participated in an
The natural conservancy is an organization that is out to conserve the lands and waters on which life depends on. In this paper, I will argue that the natural conservancy organization mission statement captures the true essence of environmentalism. The mission statement of the Nature Conservancy represents the true essence of environmentalism since it recognizes the intrinsic value of all living beings while prioritizing the importance of protecting nature for future generations.