NATURE – It’s a Good Therapy

Last month I wrote a blog for my Thinking Thin Lifestyle website encouraging my readers to get outside and to get moving now that the weather is gorgeous outside. My post was focused on diet and exercise and I made the point of what better way to get moving than to move your exercise outdoors and enjoy the beautiful Michigan summer.

I was also pointing out that we live in a state that is surrounded by the Great Lakes and especially for us who live in West Michigan being so close to the shore of Lake Michigan we should take advantage of it and also the other wonderful places that Michigan has to offer.

However, as I was blogging away on that topic I was finding myself increasingly wanting to go in the direction of how taking your exercise outside could help in other ways and more specifically your mental health.

We all know that exercise has many benefits. Not only does it help your physical health but it also helps your mental health. When you exercise, your brain stimulates chemicals that improve your mood and the parts of the brain responsible for memory and learning.

Exercise makes you feel good because it releases chemicals like endorphins and serotonin. These chemicals are powerful mood and mind boosting substances. If you exercise regularly, it can reduce stress and symptoms of conditions like depression and anxiety and help improve your sleep, which we know is important in many different ways.

So, with that being said. Let’s say you are dealing with one of the issues mentioned above. What can you do about it? Even though you know that exercise might help, the actual “doing” of it doesn’t always sound appealing does it? Well, then let’s make it exciting shall we? Let’s take it outside! And let’s make it fun! That’s the whole point of this blog. I want to introduce you to a term that you probably haven’t heard before. And that is “Ecotherapy.”

Have you ever heard the term “Ecotherapy?” It actually goes by a couple of different names but boiled down it basically means — contact with nature. It is a name given to a wide range of treatment programs which aim to improve your mental and physical wellbeing through outdoor activities in nature. And here’s the best part — you don’t have to pay for it, it’s free! And you can access it anytime!

Ecotherapy can make a significant difference to how you feel. For example, it can help you feel more grounded, provide an alternative perspective on life and help your mind and body to relax. It can:

• reduce feelings of anxiety and stress
• reduce depression
• reduce anger
• improve your mood and self-esteem
• increase your emotional resilience

One technique called “green space therapy” or “green time” involves spending time in areas with grass and trees, such as a park, yard, soccer field, or farm. Outdoor activities could include walking, backpacking, gardening, playing games, sports, or even tackling a backyard project.

I have even found that taking my work outside sometimes can make a big difference. I can sit at a desk or table and look out the window and see nature all around but when I go outside I can feel nature. And somehow it can lift my mood. Especially now that summer has popped, being in the yard or park watching the squirrels chase each other, hearing the birds chirp, and watching the bees and butterflies going from flower to flower it somehow makes me feel more peaceful and contented inside. And who can deny the calming effects of listening to the wind rustling through the trees or burying your toes in warm sand and listening to the waves breaking on the shore? (I know, there’s a sappy song in there somewhere!)

Depression can make you feel like you are in a dark place. And I don’t want to make light of it and imply that just going outside will take it away. However, what can it hurt to try and maybe help yourself in the midst of it. Someone expressed using ecotherapy this way, “I do ecotherapy to get sunlight onto my skin and into my mind. It shines light through the dark fog of depression.”
I thought that was awesome! It’s like the solar lights that you put in your yard and all day it soaks in the sunshine (to power up) then takes that energy to shine through the darkness of night.

A study done by researchers at the University of Essex found that, of a group of people suffering from depression, 90 percent felt a higher level of self-esteem after a walk through a park in the country, and almost three-quarters felt less depressed. Another survey by the same research team found that 94% of people with mental illnesses believed that contact with nature put them in a more positive mood.

We who live in Michigan know how by the time that November rolls around the days have become increasingly shorter than say June through October. So now that the weather is so gorgeous I am going to repeat what your mom used to tell you when you were a kid — “It’s too nice to be inside, get outside and play!”

Discover (or rediscover) the therapeutic effect that nature has to offer. Exercising, playing, working, gardening, backyard projects, swimming, etc. Really, the opportunities are endless out there. You just have to open the door and walk through it.

I would like to let you know that I offer “Walk-n-Talks.” Instead of meeting in the office we walk in a local park and talk. I have found the combination of therapy and outdoor exercise to be very beneficial. If this is something you would be interested in or would just like to talk to someone about issues you are dealing with whether in the office or outside please contact me at (616) 516-1570 or by clicking on the blue “Contact” tab on the bottom of the screen. I look forward to your call!