Nature: Your Stress-busting Ally

As the snow melts and the days grow longer and warmer, Nature calls us back outside.

Spending time outdoors, incorporating plants into your home, and even looking at pictures of green spaces support wellbeing.

Being outside can help rejuvenate and reset your mind and body – providing support, comfort and peace during busy seasons.

Researchers have found that time spent in nature and specific properties of environments offer an array of benefits. Many of the benefits require that a person feels safe in nature. And unfortunately, there are certainly potential hazards that can impede feelings of safety such as crime or getting lost.

If you aren’t super comfy outside, that’s ok! Taking a few precautions could help. For example, start with short outings, go somewhere like a park that’s located in a safe neighborhood, go with a group, or bring some nature indoors with plants and essential oils.

And, if you head out, don’t forget to bring water, snacks, and sunscreen. If you’re hiking trails, you might also want to grab the bug spray and a first aid kit. If you go out alone, always tell someone where you’re headed.

Benefits of Being In Nature

Here are 5 things about the benefits of nature you may have not heard before:

1. Our local ponderosa pine forest produces chemical compounds known as terpenes. Research shows that inhaling these terpenes while out on a walk in the forest or by using essential oils can physically effect our health.
2. Exposure to nature can lower blood pressure and stress hormones.
3. An outdoor outing can boost mood, reduce feelings of isolation, and promote a
   sense of calm.
4. Spending time outside enhances the functioning of the immune system.
5. There is an ancient Japanese practice called shinrin-yoku that translates to forest bathing. In Germany there is a practice called Kneipp Therapy that requires exercise in a forest as part of the healing regimen. Through these practices, forest protection laws have passed to preserve natural spaces for human health and more people across the globe turn back to nature for health benefits.

3 Tips for Connecting to Nature

Here are 3 ways you can bring more nature connection moments into your life:

1. Get out there! Go on a hike, bike ride, or bring a blanket and just relax outdoors. Hammocking anyone?
2. Invest in a house plant. Having a house plant is like having a little piece of nature in your home. They can purify the air and provide many of the same benefits as being outside.
3. Look at photos of nature; reminisce on your personal outdoor adventures, find accounts on social media that post nature content, or watch a nature documentary. This also has benefits similar to being outside.

Nature is calling! Get out there and soak in the beauty of spring.