In Canada, health-care professionals can now officially prescribe time in nature. This speaks volumes to the mountain of research suggesting the benefits of nature for our mental and physical health. Nature is more alive and intelligent than we can imagine (Schlanger, 2024), so it is no surprise that spending time with a tree can restore our energy.
Nature: A State Beyond Relaxation
We’ve seen that nature exposure leads to increased empathy and creativity by helping us find patterns that we’d otherwise miss (Piff et al., 2015, Stanovic, 2022, p. 36). Perhaps this is due to the mixture of elements in nature that provide just the right amount of stimulation and novelty in a healthy way, allowing us to enter a meditative flow state: the breeze, colours, sound of birds, and the smell of the great outdoors (Xie et al., 2022).
This meditative flow state slows down our brainwaves and allows our body to enter parasympathetic mode, promoting neurogenesis and neuroplasticity in the brain while the body relaxes enough to repair itself (Aust et al., 2022).
Nature: The Gift of Vitality
When we experience stress, trauma, burnout or depression, we lack the energy to express emotions or accomplish necessary tasks because our energy is being diverted elsewhere. As a result, we may feel lethargic and have difficulty focusing. This is where the power of outdoor activities can help us shake off the stored tension and restore our vitality.
The Great Release & Reset
After animals escape from a predator, they often shake their entire bodies to release the pent-up stress. For example, after gazelles escape an attack, they shake to reset their nervous system and restore a state of calm.
What does this say about us? Well, as humans we accumulate stress every single day whether we realize it or not. Now presenting: unrecognized daily stressors such as waiting in a boring line, anticipating an email, or directly fearing the consequences after being pulled over by a police officer. These are moments of stress that we all experience varying in duration, intensity, and specificity.
Running From Stress
If we do not have a consistent tool in place to release this stress, it may begin to suck us of our vitality. This happens in various ways such as tension in muscles, emotional apathy, fatigue, and a lack of concentration.
Outdoor Running For Vitality and Freedom
There is one simple tool that can dramatically improve the amount of energy we have for the day: a 10 minute outdoor run in the morning (Oswald et al., p.10). There are lots of studies that provide evidence for outdoor running positively increasing mood, as seen in a scoping review of 116 papers (Oswald et al., 2020). Here are two of the many fascinating effects explained at a deeper level:
- Emotional Vitality: As we discussed earlier, emotional dullness can result from energy being tied up in stress. Running outdoors has been shown to increase emotional expression (Giles et al., 2018). It is sort of like a great big ‘wake up’ and ‘shake up’ in the morning that might get us feeling fully alive in our bodies.
- Emotional Freedom: Nature calms us down while the running part shakes out any tension we might be unknowingly holding in. This purges our emotional system which allows us to feel free. Think of it as a release from negative baggage.
Social Connections
Another benefit of morning outdoor runs at the same time daily is that we might get to know our neighborhood a little bit better. Ever since I started going for runs at 6am, I’ve become familiarized with a few faces that are also out at that time. From there, the familiarity eventually led to some great friendships.
Wider Perspective
Our mind makes a decision 7 seconds before we know about it (Haynes, 2008; Libet, 1983). This typically had psychologists questioning free will, but the important question is: What is priming that decision making process? Well, perhaps it is our social, spatial, and intellectual environment. In this case, by being in the wide-open outdoors, it might symbolically widen our perspective. I mean, what is more open than the great outdoors?
References
Oswald, F., Campbell, J., Williamson, C., Richards, J., & Kelly, P. (2020). A scoping review of the relationship between running and mental health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(21), 8059. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17218059
Giles, G. E., Eddy, M. D., Brunyé, T. T., Urry, H. L., Graber, H. L., Barbour, R. L., Mahoney, C. R., Taylor, H. A., & Kanarek, R. B. (2018). Endurance Exercise Enhances Emotional Valence and Emotion Regulation. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 12, 398. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00398
Stanovic, M. (2022). Internet and the environment: A catalyst to consumerism and environmental degradation. Fordham Research Commons.
Piff, P. K., Dietze, P., Feinberg, M., Stancato, D. M., & Keltner, D. (2015). Awe, the small self, and prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108(6), 883-899. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000018
Xie, M., Mao, Y., & Yang, R. (2022). Flow experience and city identity in the restorative environment: A conceptual model and nature-based intervention. Frontiers in public health, 10, 1011890. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1011890
Aust, F., Beneke, T., Peifer, C., & Wekenborg, M. (2022). The Relationship between Flow Experience and Burnout Symptoms: A Systematic Review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(7), 3865. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19073865
Schlanger, Z. (2024). The light eaters: How the unseen world of plant intelligence offers a new understanding of life on earth. HarperCollins.
Libet, B., Gleason, C. A., Wright, E. W., & Pearl, D. K. (1983). Time of conscious intention to act in relation to onset of cerebral activity (readiness-potential): The unconscious initiation of a freely voluntary act. Brain, 106(3), 623-642. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/106.3.623
Haynes, J.-D., Soon, C. S., Brass, M., Heinze, H.-J., & Haynes, J.-D. (2008). Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain. Nature Neuroscience, 11(5), 543-545. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2112
Leave a Reply