Positive effects of nature on human health are numerous. Many of you may have experienced how a quick jog in a nearby park, dense with trees, can keep you energised the whole day. Or spending a leisurely weekend in the lap of a forest can leave you refreshed for a long time. Tapping into this abundant source to lift your spirits more often can be one of the best rejuvenators. Here’s how.
Benefits of being in nature
In his book, Our National Parks, Scottish American naturalist, and author, John Muir has stated: “Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”
Aptly put by John Muir, nature can help you handle those shooting stress-levels, and a lot more!
Here are 3 positive effects of nature on human health that can turn your life around
Benefit # 1: Boosts your immune system
Plants emit a certain antibacterial and antifungal chemical, called phytoncide. When you breathe in this natural chemical, your body produces more of NK, a type of white blood cells, known to kill those cells infected by tumour and virus. Even the activity of these NK white blood cells shoots up after an encounter with nature. One of the studies revealed that spending around 3 days and 2 nights in a forest helped in keeping this activity increased for a period of 30 days.
Benefit # 2: Enables you to kick out stress
While exercising in nature can have its own, enhanced benefits, even if you just sit in the lap of nature, looking at trees around you, can help reduce blood pressure. You will also experience a drop in stress-levels as hormones like cortisol and adrenaline also get lowered when you’re close to nature. On the other hand, communing with nature can prove to be a mood enhancer. Studies reveal that nature can further improve your mood as negative emotions like anxiety, depression, anger, confusion, and fatigue, will decrease.
Benefit # 3: Helps to improve focus
Multitasking has become the need of the day. But doing many activities at a time, or even working on one activity for a long time can drain you mentally. This phenomenon is called Directed Attention Fatigue. Regularly engaging in activities that bring you closer to nature helps in giving a break to the cognitive part of your brain. As a result, there’s better focus. It also helps in keeping up your patience levels.
So, without further ado, plan that forest bathing trip, or a nature trail that you’ve been probably postponing for long.
Also Read: HOW TO EXPLAIN YOGA TO YOUR CHILD?
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