The Great Outdoors: Get Active Outside, and Feel Better on the Inside

From the moment our alarm goes off until we lie down to sleep at night, many of us spend minimal time outdoors. Most of our routines—home, work, gym, movies, restaurants—happen inside some kind of structure, and the few times we see the sun, it’s through a window. But is being outside really that important, anyway?

Recent studies have drawn real connections between regular outdoor exposure and increased feelings of peace and relaxation. A reduction in anger and fearful emotions has also been shown to accompany exposure to nature. One major key to this is the quality of light outside as compared to indoor lighting.

Light receptors in the brain produce serotonin, a hormone that regulates mood. Individuals need exposure to full spectrum light in order to maintain emotional health. The American Journal of Preventative Medicine reports that even more dramatic differences in mood have been recorded when exercise is combined with fresh air and sunshine.

Accordingly, just a few minutes of sun exposure can make a big difference in your vitamin D levels as well, which are responsible for bone and muscular strength, immune function, and the body’s natural cancer-fighting systems. Exposed to sunlight, the body produces vitamin D rather quickly, too. Twenty minutes in the sun generates 12,000 IU of vitamin D—far more than your daily, or even weekly, requirement.

Skin health is indeed a concern when it comes to sun exposure, and it’s important to wear sunscreen and protective clothing when you know you’re going to be in direct sunlight for a while. And for those who have fair skin that burns easily, paler individuals typically need only two to ten percent of the sun exposure required by darker skinned people. But while sun exposure is indeed linked with skin cancer, the International Journal of Cancer recently reported that regular, recreational time spent in the sun, for reasonable durations, can actually reduce the risk for certain types of lymphoma.

Still, it’s not just the sun exposure that makes getting close to nature so important. Interacting with the natural world gives us a sense of well-being and a connection to processes larger than our individual problems. We bring nature into our own environments through aquariums, plants, fountains and pets, but sometimes it’s good to be surrounded by the bigness of nature in order to have a profound and serene experience.

Getting out into a natural environment could be as simple as visiting a local park on your lunch break. Just being close to trees and so much of the color green can do a lot to rejuvenate us. Our eyes can see more shades of green than any other color. The human eye perceives green using the cones located at the very center of our pupil, making it an easy, restful color to view.

For a more substantial experience, it could be fun to plan a short vacation to a national park like Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon. Naturally occurring wonders can give us a sense of awe and quiet the mind. Standing in the majestic shadow of a snow capped mountain or catching a glimpse of a mother deer with her fawn—these are the kinds of experiences that stick with us and provide a sense of beauty that has nothing to do with human invention.

No matter where you live, just an hour or two of travel can usually deliver you to an organic setting that will allow you to hike, swim or simply decompress. This is great, not only for your Physical and Emotional Wellness, but also for your Environmental Wellness—your connection to the world around you.

Author: Dan Paul Roberts
Website: http://www.123FeelBetter.net/