Nature’s effect on our wellbeing

If you are my client, or if you’ve been following me on instagram for a while, you already know my obsession with nature. Trees, plants and animals have always fascinated me. It calms me down, grounds me, and make me feel like home. If I have any doubts about something, to spend some time in the nature makes everything clear. Anything from the almost spiritual and healing sensation, that makes you feel like you really are a part of the universe, to the obscure little weird facts, like about butterflies, lichens and mushrooms!

Butterflies are incredible and beautiful insects, and maybe… a little weird?! In the pupa that the larva creates for the transformation, it doesn’t just slap on its wings so it’s ready to fly, instead the larva completely dissolves into goo before it rebuild itself to a full butterfly!

And lichens, they are some of my other favorite organisms, they’re not just some weird plant that grows on old trees or rocks. A lichen is actually two organisms, an algae and a fungi, that live in symbiosis with each other. That they also are an indicator of the air quality, they thrive in areas where the air is clean, just makes them cooler.

And then of course, we have mushrooms. They are neither plants nor animals, they constitute their own kingdom: the Fungi. Fungi is also one of the biggest organisms in the world. It’s the honey fungus that is the largest known specimen, it covers around 8,8km2, and is estimated to be about 2500years old. And then we have fact that they are more closely related to animals than to plants. Weird? Yes. Fascinating? Totally!

In my mind, nature can cure ’almost anything!’. Nature do have a big positiv impact on us, and more and more research shows just exactly how important it is for our health to be near, and to spend time in nature. Both for our physical health and for our psychological wellbeing. It doesn’t always have to be wild nature, urban nature and city parks also have a big effect. Green spaces and nature makes us more likely to be physically active, it makes us walk and bike more, it reduces mental distress, reduce stress, results in more positive emotions, and faster mental recovery. Urban nature also helps with reducing our exposure to air pollution, and it helps regulate the temperature in our cities (keeps the street cooler in the warm summer months e.g.).

Studies have shown that green spaces near schools promote cognitive development in children, and green views near children’s homes promote self-control behaviors. For adults living in neighborhoods with more green spaces shown better attentional functioning than those with less access to natural environments. Furthermore, studies have found that being exposed to natural environments improves working memory, cognitive flexibility and attentional control, while exposure to urban environments is linked to attention deficits. Being exposed to nature lowers cortisol, the hormone that is released during stress. It’s even possible to see the difference in people’s stress levels depending on if they have an office with trees or a park outside the windows, compared to the once with an office facing buildings, streets or parking lots.

Adults living in greener urban areas, or spending more times in nature, are associated with lower probabilities of cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, asthma hospitalization. For children it also shows lower risks for example obesity and myopia. 

More and more countries are acknowledging the benefits of being in nature, and healthcare providers are also prescribing time in nature for better health and wellbeing. Japan was one of the first countries prescribing nature, and has been recommending ’forest bathing’ since 1982.
In some Canadian provinces patients can get provided with a pass to access their national parks and marine conservation areas. And in England a large ’green’ project started in 2020, involving around 8000 people, with the result of an increase of happiness and life worthwhile, at the same time as levels of anxiety fell. 

Building a relationship with nature is one of the key factors for its positive impact. Researchers use the term ‘connectedness’ to describe the ideal relationship. Connectedness refers to the way we relate to nature and how we experience it. How we build this relationship with nature varies of course from each and every one of us, and there are a number of different activities that can help nurture it. It can be anything from high endurance activity like running, climbing, and surfing, to strolling through the park, having a coffee under the tree, laying on the grass reading a book, or gardening. It can be noticing nature by listening intently to birdsong or touching the bark of trees. Noticing how the flowers smell or how the soil feels between our fingers. We also connect and build our relationship with nature while writing about it, or reflecting and sharing our favorite sun spot or nature walk.

To get started in building a relationship with nature, if it’s completely new to you, or if you’re rebuilding it after being away for some time, here are a few ways that can help you get started:

• Senses: Noticing and actively engaging with nature, e.g. listening to birdsong, smelling wild flowers, or watching stream flowing by, or the breeze in the trees.
• Emotion: Experiencing the joy and calm nature can bring, e.g. talking about, and reflecting on your feelings about nature.
• Beauty: Simply taking time to appreciate nature’s beauty.
• Meaning: Exploring and celebrating how nature brings meaning to life, e.g. exploring how nature appears in songs and stories, poems and art, or by celebrating the signs and cycles of nature.
• Compassion: Taking actions that are good for nature, e.g. creating homes for nature, and making ethical product choices.
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Every time we pause to appreciate the good things in nature, and just noticing a tree outside of your window or the flower that is cracking through the concrete, can make a difference in our wellbeing.

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Further reading:
Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing, Nature
‘Better than medication’: prescribing nature works, project shows, The Guardian
Health: What are green prescriptions and which countries offer them?, World Economic Forum 
Nature: How connecting with nature benefits our mental health, Mental Health Foundation
Nurtured by nature, American Psychological Association: