Happy and Healthy

Submitted by ub on

A regular weekly Dose of Mother Nature would could and should make all of us much happier and a lot healthier than we are today.

If you’re trying to count up your minutes, know that outside doesn’t just mean walking to the store or spending time in your own backyard. The study says it looked at open spaces in and around towns and cities, including parks, canals, and nature areas; the coast and beaches; and the countryside including farmland, woodland, hills, and rivers. 

Researchers, based at the University of Exeter Medical School, saw that doctors were beginning to get questions from patients about the benefits of exposure to nature. “They’re coming to us and saying ‘Doctor, how long do I have to spend?'”

https://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/news/

It will take some effort to get the time you need—though most of the locations the subjects visited were within two miles of their homes—but it may be worth it. Emotions are influenced by breathing patterns, so change them and our emotions will follow.

So forget your complicated and expensive wellness regime and just get out there and go outside. This is the first study to look at the effect of visiting nature over a week, and it’s also one of the first to look at the effects on such a large group of people—young and old, male and female, urban and rural, rich and poor. It could be the first step in developing a new government guideline that recommends a particular amount of time outside, similar to the guidelines for exercise.

The University of Exeter is a public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Mines were established in 1838, 1855, 1863, and 1888 respectively. https://www.exeter.ac.uk/us-2/?mrasn=756487.940308.KyPelnBu