Bring Nature Therapy Into Your Life

It’s time to bring nature into our everyday life. While we know intuitively that seeing the birds and squirrels in the local park seems to have a calming effect on us and makes us feel good, proven evidence is mounting about the benefits of nature therapy.

What Is Nature Therapy?

Nature therapy, which is also called ecotherapy, is based on the concept of using nature to help us heal, especially psychologically. Instead of spending time enjoying and benefiting from the natural environment, we are spending more and more time on screens and online. We do not spend time outside as much as we did before to decompress, let off steam, or recharge. We may no longer bike through a meadow or play games at the lake, for example, as we did when we were children. We’ve replaced those leisurely activities with more time spent on social media and video games, resulting in a stressed-out society with a variety of mental health maladies.

Green and Blue Therapy

You might hear nature therapy called "green care," "green exercise," or "green therapy." That is because its powerful benefit lies in spending time in green spaces. But nature therapy also includes time spent near soothing blue oceans, blue rivers, and blue lakes. Being near aquatic environments has a psychologically restorative effect. It puts us in good moods. The colour blue also represents calm and tranquility. In fact, evidence showed a positive association between more exposure to outdoor blue spaces and health, particularly in terms of benefits to mental health and well-being. So, researchers have expanded their notion of ecotherapy to include blue spaces as well.

Nature Therapy’s Various Approaches

A host of nature-based therapeutic programs are available to you. There are relaxed approaches like gardening in the backyard, walking in a field of flowers, or floating on a tube in the river. Nature therapy or ecotherapy can also encompass activities or therapies in which you are formally guided by therapists and trained leaders, too.

Here are some more formalised types of nature therapies:

• Farming-related therapy, which could involve working with crops, often in a community

• Animal-assisted therapy, which might consist of playing with or training horses or dogs

• Adventure therapy, which may feature white water rafting or rock climbing

• Wilderness therapy, which often helps groups of teens and young adults with behavioural issues

• Forest therapy, also called forest bathing, is a mindful practice in which you use your five senses as you walk through a forest

The Benefits of Being in Nature

What science is showing is that we can reap the healing powers of Mother Nature and gain a host of mental health benefits. 

• Increased Happiness

• Decreased Anxiety, Stress, Depression and overall Mental Health

• Increases in Cognitive Benefits

• Better Sleep

• Low Stress Levels

• Enhanced Mood and Wellbeing

• Overall Health and Wellbeing

How to get more nature into your daily life

Here are some suggestions for ways you can experience more of the health benefits of nature:

• Gardening: All that mowing, weeding, digging and planting will work wonders for your fitness levels and being immersed in nature will boost your health and mood too.

• Cultivate a window box: If you don’t have a garden, get your daily dose of nature by growing plants, flowers and herbs in a window box on a window sill.

• Walking: Aim to go for a walk every day. Head for the nearest green space such as your local park, common, river walk or beach walk and try to spend at least 20 minutes walking.

• Hiking: Put the stresses of the week behind you by going on a long walk or hike at the weekend.

• Visit a local beauty spot: Local landscaped gardens, a waterfall, walk along the river – the choices are vast.

• Play outdoor sports: Take up a sport that you can do in nature or parks such as tennis, badminton, golf, wild swimming, running or mountain biking.

• Green Gym: Check your area for a green gym where you can improve the environment and get fit at the same time, for example by planting trees, doing conservation work, sowing meadows or working on a wildlife pond.

How to Bring Nature Indoors

Due to socio-economic reasons, not every group has easy access to green or blue spaces. Furthermore, during inclement weather and cold winter months, even those with the means might not choose to luxuriate in nature. The appeal of a stroll by a river or hike through a nature reserve may not be there. If you have limited time or access, perhaps an intense work schedule, or are just not comfortable spending prolonged periods of time in the cold, you can still access nature conveniently. How do we bring nature’s benefits inside when we are confined to our homes and workplaces? Here are some easy ways:

• Add plants. They not only remove toxins from the air, but research shows that people who spend time around plants have more concern, empathy, and compassion toward others as well as improved relationships.

• Decorate with paintings or photographs of nature. Choose pretty landscapes, lush gardens, or natural scenes. In yet another study about the health benefits of nature, researchers found that viewing lovely green scenes resulted in the participants having lower stress levels.

• Use soundscapes and download apps of soothing nature sounds. Don’t underestimate the power of listening to a waterfall or the sound of rain. The result isn’t just enhanced relaxation and a sense of chilling out. Results also include attention restoration and better cognitive performance. In one particular study published in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review participants who listened to nature’s sounds, specifically that of the ocean’s waves and chirping crickets, performed better on tests than their counterparts who listened to urban sounds like traffic and car horns.