Nature has a gentle way of giving us perspective, slowing us down, and creating a sense of calmness within us.
Nature has a gentle way of giving us perspective, slowing us down, and creating a sense of calmness within us. Although, actual natural settings brought more pronounced benefits, both experiencing and viewing nature creates positive emotions, improves attention, and increases a sense of connectedness to nature. Other studies have demonstrated that listening to soundtracks with nature sounds is beneficial, impacting the brain and improving attention and concentration and reducing the tendency to ruminate (over-thinking or repetative interuptions by your unwanted thoughts) over problems.
Nature Therapy is our approach to helping people that:
struggle with uncontrolled emotions, temper tantrums, etc.
argue a lot with others, peers, mentors, supervisors, etc.
refuse to do what is asked of them without a 'fight'.
questioning rules and/or refusing to follow rules.
doing things to annoy or upset others, friends, kids, teens, adults, etc.
blaming others for the person's own misbehaviors or mistakes.
struggle with angry outbursts.
have sensory issues that get in the way of daily life.
How Does Being in Nature Improve A Person's Mental Health?
The benefit of nature on our mental health is enormous. The natural world directly affects positive changes in the brain and entire nervous system. Spending even brief amounts of time in nature, doing something that you find pleasant, can substantially reduce anxiety, stress, and depression and improve total well-being. Being in nature improves mental health in part because it gets us away from our indoor environment. Studies have found that most Americans spend most of their time indoors.1 Furthermore, most of that indoor time is now spent with technological devices.2 Excessive indoor and screen time can negatively affect our total well-being in terms of physical and mental health.
Spending time in nature has been shown to have the following benefits:
Boost mood
Increase general feelings of happiness and well-being
Create pleasant emotions and thoughts
Bring a sense balance to our lives
Inspire a sense of awe, wonder, and connection to something greater as we experience connection to natural life energy
Generate feelings of calm
Improve our ability to pay attention and concentrate
Foster empathy
Reduce the risk of psychiatric disorders
Lower stress
Lessen anxiety and fear
Calm the nervous system, deactivating the fight-or-flight response
Being in nature affects our brain and entire physiology. The sights, sounds, and smells directly affect our nervous system, deactivating the sympathetic nervous system responsible for the fight-or-flight stress response and activating the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the rest-and-digest response. Here are specific examples of how being in nature relieves symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress:
Breathing becomes slower and deeper
Hormonal and neurotransmitter activity change (including a drop in the production and circulation of the stress hormone cortisol)
Blood pressure lowers
Heart rate slows allowing you to relax and find a sense of calm within.
Thoughts and emotions shift away from worry and negativity and allow you to be more productive.
Studies show that our environment directly impacts our stress levels, either increasing or decreasing them, and as such affect our mood, nervous system, endocrine system, and immune system.
Where we spend our time matters. Being constantly indoors and/or living in crowded, noisy, polluted cities can increase stress and exacerbate mental health disorders. Stepping outdoors and experiencing nature counters this and reduces stress and anxiety and alleviates depression. Natural settings impact us at our very core. Being outside in green or blue spaces with other living things positively changes the brain and entire nervous system to improve our well-being on a truly deep level... that we are just beginning to understand.
What Nature Therapy Isn't...
Experiencing nature's. benefits doesn’t mean:
always having to go somewhere to do it
you have to spend countless hours outside
you have to trek remote backcountry for days
rules for how you must experience nature in order to improve or maintain your mental health
something that should cause you additional stress, if it does, rethink how you expreince nature in ways that are enjoyable to you
Instead try this (any and/or all):
make getting outside easy by doing it during the time of day that works best for you
heading outdoors when they are already feeling energized and motivated
20-30 minutes three times per week or enjoying a weekend outdoors is enough to reduce symptoms of depression
the key is to simply begin making nature a part of your lifestyle
just two hours spent outdoors every week is enough to boost well-being at any age
can be done alone or with others (the benefits are the same)
do what you enjoy, because the point is to boost well-being rather than adding stress by trying to do something you don’t enjoy
join local groups or nature program
turn your own surroundings into a green space by starting a small garden, growing a flower in a pot, or keeping a houseplant
turn your own surroundings into a blue space by caring for a fish (Betta fish are fairly easy to care for and don’t require anything other than water and a bowl); we are not veternarians- please see professional advice/help when needed
look at pictures you’ve already taken or photos in magazines of nature
find videos of natural settings on YouTube
Bee U Therapy™ Colorado
Wellness Journal Assignment
Think of a time you connected with nature, what was it like, what was your 5 senses expereince, who were you with, where was it, and as many details as you can think of. Then, write. Write wihtout judgment of yourself, and without editing yourself.
Once you do that make a 3 bullet point list of the things you learned about yourself or. your expereince through writing about it. How did writing about it affect you?
“A walk in nature, walks the soul back home.”
– Mary Davis
"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you."
Gretel Ehrlich
“Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are.”
Hans Christian Andersen
"Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."
Henry David Thoreau
Nature Research Further Reading
Pertinent Studies on Nature & Mental Health
Many studies have been done pointing to the mental health benefits of nature:
A study reported in the Journal of Health Psychology in 2012 found that being in nature boosts psychological well-being and vitality and instills people with a deeper sense of meaning.
Having physical contact with the earth, such as standing barefoot on the ground—a practice known as grounding or earthing—has been shown to lower stress and anxiety, reduce inflammation, improve sleep, and boost mood according to a 2015 study published in the Journal of Inflammation Research.
Three different studies conducted as part of a larger examination into the effects of nature on mental health and reported in 2008 in the journal Environment and Behavior indicate that being in nature fosters a sense of connectedness, creates positive emotions, improves people’s ability to concentrate, and helps people reflect on life problems.
The University of Minnesota reports in one study that researchers used fMRI images to see brain activity when people viewed nature scenes or urban scenes and found that nature scenes increased activity in parts of the brain associated with love and empathy, whereas urban scenes activated areas of the brain associated with anxiety and fear.
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Author
TMcCurdy, MA, MEd, AMS, RPT, REAT
PSYD-Doctor of Psychology Associate
Licensed Psychotherapist (LPCC) in Colorado
Expressive Arts Therapist (EXAT)
Special Education and Disability Specialist
Montessori Certified Teacher and School Leader who has worked with: Infants, Toddlers, Children, Teens and Young Adults for over 20 years
Writer, Author and Speaker
Office (720)802-3323
Fax (720)790-6363
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