Four health benefits of the outdoors

If you've ever felt calmer after a walk in the park or a walk in the woods, it's not your imagination, it's biology.

Spending time outdoors can cause noticeable changes inside your body: lower levels of stress hormones, lower blood pressure, and even improve gut health.

You don't need to hike for hours to experience these benefits, as the maximum benefits are achieved in just 20 minutes, so even a walk to the park at lunchtime and a sandwich on a bench a few times a week will benefit your body and mind.

Here are four ways being in nature can help improve your health.

When you see green trees, smell pine trees, and hear the gentle rustling of leaves or birdsong, your autonomic nervous system—the network of nerves that controls unconscious processes—reacts instantly.

This may happen while visiting a local park.

“We see changes in the body, such as decreased blood pressure and heart rate variability, which causes your heart to beat slower,” says Baroness Katie Willis, professor of biodiversity at the University of Oxford.

British studyThe study, which involved nearly 20,000 people, found that those who spent at least 120 minutes in green space each week were significantly more likely to report good health and higher psychological well-being.

The evidence for the benefits of spending time in nature is so strong that so-called “green” social mandates, connecting people with nature to improve their physical and mental health, have been trialled in some regions. positive impact on happiness and well-being.

Your body's hormonal system is also involved in the relaxation process.

Willis says spending time outdoors reduces levels of cortisol and adrenaline, hormones that increase when you're stressed or anxious.

“The study found that people who stayed in a hotel room for three days and inhaled hinoki (Japanese cypress) oil saw a significant decrease in levels of the hormone adrenaline and a significant increase in the number of natural killer cells.”

Natural killer cells are cells that fight viruses in the body. Study participants still had an increased number of natural killer cells in their bodies two weeks after they inhaled the scent.

Essentially, nature “calms what needs calming and strengthens what needs strengthening,” says Professor Ming Kuo of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. summed up by the BBC.

“A three-day weekend in nature has a huge impact on our virus-fighting apparatus, and even a month later it can be 24% above baseline.”

Research also shows smaller, but still lasting, effects from shorter periods of time in nature, she said.

Smelling nature is as powerful as seeing and hearing it.

The smell of trees and soil is full of organic compounds released by plants, and “when you inhale them, some molecules enter the bloodstream.”

Willis says pine is a good example of this, as the scent of a pine forest can calm you down in just 20 seconds, and the effect lasts about 10 minutes.

You might think that the relaxing effects of nature are all in your head, but another study found that even very young children who have no memory associated with certain smells were still calmed when a pine scent wafted into the room they were in.

Not only does nature calm your mind, but it also helps improve your microbiome as the soil and plants are full of beneficial bacteria.

“These are the same beneficial bacteria that we pay for in probiotics or drinks,” Willis explains.

Professor Ming Kuo has studied the effects on factors such as susceptibility to infection, as well as mental health, and says inhaling certain factors can boost your mood; and antimicrobial chemicals released by plants, called phytoncides, can help fight disease.

Dr Chris van Tulleken says that as an infectious disease scientist, he views nature as a truly challenging environment that “tickles your immune system”.

He forces his children to play with soil in the forest, which then enters their bodies through the nose or mouth.

Of course, not everyone can head into the woods on a whim, but the good news is that you don't have to.

According to Willis, even small touches of nature in the home can make a difference.

Visual flowers such as white or yellow roses have been shown to have the greatest calming effect on brain activity.

When it comes to scent, use a diffuser with essential oils like lavender to help you relax.

And if all else fails, even a photograph of a forest can help.

Research shows that looking at nature photos on your laptop or simply looking at something green can trigger the same calming brainwave changes and reduce stress.

“Everything seems to help,” says Professor Ming Kuo.