Spending time in nature doesn’t just feel good, there’s tons of evidence that it can reduce your stress and improve your mental health. You can think of it as one of the many ways the Earth loves us right back.
City planners are always trying to make room for “green space” when developing a new area, because people need to have contact with the natural world.
Science supports this: even just seeing plants from your hospital window can lead to faster recovery times. Studies have shown that students who have plants in their dorms score better on attention tests, and people that live in greener areas report less stress and more life satisfaction!
Fitting Nature In
It can be difficult to find time to go hiking, or even just to hang out in a local park for a couple hours. When you’re too busy to go outside, you can still interact with nature in meaningful ways!
Keep plants where you tend to spend a long time, whether that’s by your couch where you sit to scroll or watch TV or in your kitchen so you have a green friend to cook and/or eat with. If you have houseplants at your desk, you might even find that you’re more productive and can stay focused for longer!
Even just seeing plants from your window can reduce your stress and improve your focus. Try keeping blinds open whenever possible, as it may help connect your home to the outside world and bring some of that peace into your space.
Getting Outside
Of course, there isn’t a real substitute for getting outside and actually surrounding yourself with nature. In fact, the bigger a green space is, the more benefits it provides, possibly because of how immersed you can become in a park when you can’t see its borders.
When you’re able to make it to a local green space, look for one that’s specifically engineered to offer stress relief!
Water offers the opportunity to focus on something without needing to actually focus. Think of it like meditation! When watching moving water, your eyes are kept busy, but your thoughts can wander a little bit, which lets your brain decompress and process things in your life. Some of our favorite local Gainesville parks with water features include:
Depot Park
Loblolly Woods
Sweetwater Wetlands
Along with being in nature, social interaction and physical activity also both contribute to better mental wellbeing, and parks are a great place to experience all three! Seek out green spaces that have gym or playground equipment, a dog park, or ample opportunities to socialize with others through organized events.
Squirrel Ridge
Depot Park
Midpoint Park
Biodiversity is a highly prized aspect of the natural world, and research has shown that people can tell when a landscape is more biodiverse, and tend to get more stress relief benefits when it is. Places with manicured landscaping may reduce the amount of native flora and fauna that exist in the space, so if you want the benefit of experiencing biodiversity, go somewhere that looks a little more untouched.
Payne’s Prairie
San Felasco Hammock Preserve
Cofrin Nature Park
Protecting your peace
You can’t pour from an empty cup! Make sure you’re taking care of yourself in these trying times, so that you don’t burn yourself out on constant bad news and hard work.
Spending your free time outdoors and in public green spaces helps keep you rejuvenated and ready for anything, but it also keeps you active in the community, and shows leaders that our public lands are valued and worth protecting.
Sources List:
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.6143402
https://doi.org/10.1016/0272-4944(95)90016-0
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00139160121973115
https://doi.org/10.1016/0272-4944(95)90001-2
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.11.003
https://doi.org/10.1016/0272-4944(95)90001-2