The Magic Medicine of Nature
Looking East. Aguilar, Colorado
I am a homebody. I like quiet activities like reading, drawing, writing, and painting. Yes, I enjoy getting in a hoop, going for walks, dancing, and spinning poi, but really, I was trained to be a couch potato. I am a Gen Xer, and novels and the television were my best friends and my babysitters. Sitting around indoors all day long is something I had to train myself out of, and I’m still not the least sedentary person I know. When stressed, some people go for a run, I take a nap.
Still, I recognize the healing power of being outside. I know that when I get off my rear end and get out the door, everything seems to feel better. My running health anxiety and even my sometimes low bubbling depression lift some when I can feel the breeze on my face, so I make a point of getting out there.
A little over 3 weeks ago, I gave up my lease, moved out of my house, and embarked on a nomadic journey of indeterminate length with my partner and my cats. Together, we live in a very small, hard-sided pop-up camper. This is no 35-foot rolling motor home with all the amenities. It’s just above a tent, really, and that means I’m much more exposed to the natural world every minute of the day. Even though my preferred activities are still reading, writing, drawing, and painting, I am less sedentary, and more importantly, perhaps, I am always exposed to nature. I’m not going to lie and tell you that my anxiety is cured or that I haven’t felt a low mood since leaving my sticks and bricks home, but I am going to tell you that I feel generally, all around BETTER now that I am waking with the sun, feeling the air, and interacting with the living beings OUT HERE.
This new experience has inspired me to share some of the benefits Nature has to offer you just in case you’re like me - a little bit of a couch potato (or a Gen Xer raised on PopTarts® and MTV).
Here are some benefits the outside world has to offer:
Getting outside can help you feel better, and it can help strengthen your immune system. We get a really important little vitamin from being outside in the sun. Vitamin D improves mood and helps our immune system work better. Sure, you can take a little pill every day, but the best way to naturally get Vitamin D is to spend 10 to 30 minutes in the mid-day sun several times a week. The amount of time you need in the sun varies based on your skin tone and sun sensitivity and your location - those further north will need more time, those closer to the equator, less (1). If you’re going to be out longer than 30 minutes, slather on your sunscreen!
Being outside in the natural world eases rumination. Rumination is when your mind gets stuck in a spin of negative self-talk or worry. Depression, anxiety, and rumination are close friends. In a 2015 study, researchers found that folks who went outside walking for 90 minutes a day dealt with less of that pesky rumination than those who didn’t (2). Now, the question is, was it just being outside, or was it the combination of moving those bones AND being outside? Who cares? Put on your walking shoes AND your sunscreen.
Spending time in nature improves concentration, and who can’t use a little help in that arena? Researchers have found that folks who took little tiny “green” breaks from their office jobs experienced better concentration (3). All they had to do was spend time looking at nature. Even us couch potatoes can do that!
It’s almost impossible to be bored outside. Nature cures boredom and invites mindful curiosity over and over again. The natural world is full of interesting things to see, touch, smell, hear, taste, and even talk to. Things out there beg for interaction in a way that we will never get from streaming 14 episodes of Supernatural in one sitting. Just last night, my partner and I followed around a HUGE beetle for about 15 minutes. We even offered it a piece of bell pepper, which it investigated but declined as it wasn’t rotten enough for its taste. Getting curious and developing mindfulness are siblings. More curiosity means more mindfulness, which means more delicious goodness.
Getting out there can help you kick or at least ease insomnia. For one thing, spending time outside promotes movement, and that improves sleep (4). For another, getting outside often and especially spending time in the early morning light can help your body find and reset its natural rhythm (5).
Here’s the deal. Nature is magic, and it is medicine. It is medicine for us because we are OF Nature. We are natural beings just like the Juniper Tree outside my front window. So many of us humans, especially in the Western World have become distanced from the living world outside our air-conditioned, air-freshened, controlled environment. Life inside is often easier and more comfortable. It is certainly more controlled. But… It’s missing things. Sure, we can manufacture the sights, sounds, scents, textures, and even tastes of Nature, but that’s just it - they are manufactured. They aren’t the REAL thing. They may possess a tiny piece of the magic, but the only way to contact the true, deep, real, full magical medicinal healing experience Nature offers is to get outside.
So go. (Don’t forget your sunscreen).
And hey, if you want to have a really cool experience out there, try HipCamp. We’ve stayed on ranches, goat farms, in a yurt, in a wild horse haven, and in a couple of huge driveways out in the rural world. If you use THIS LINK, you’ll get $10 off your first trip, and I’ll get $10 off my next one. Win Win!
As always, I’m wishing you well, and today, I’m also sending you wishes for a blessed and happy Solstice!
Fálki
Bibliography
1Raman, R., (April 28, 2018). How to safely get Vitamin D from sunlight. Healthline. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-d-from-sun on June 2, 2022.
2Bratman, G.N, Hamilton, J.P, Hahn, K.S., & Gross, J.J., (June 29, 2015). Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenus prefrontal cortex activation. PNAS. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1510459112
3Lee, K.E., Williams, K.J.H., Sargent, L.D., Williams, N.S.G, & Johnson, K.A., (2015). 40-second green roof views sustain attention: The role of micro-breaks in attention restoration, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 42, 182-289, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.04.003.
4Johns Hopkins Medicine (2022). Exercising for better sleep. Retrieved from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/exercising-for-better-sleep#:~:text=Recent%20research%20indicates%20that%20exercise,to%20medical%20treatments%20for%20insomnia on June 2, 2022.
5Peters, B., (March 4, 2021). Get morning sunlight and you’ll sleep better. VeryWell Health. Retrieved from https://www.verywellhealth.com/morning-sunlight-exposure-3973908#:~:text=If%20you%20are%20struggling%20to,positive%20impact%20on%20your%20life on June 2, 2022.