When was the last time you went outside with purpose and for enjoyment?
Many people think about spending time in the great outdoors as a special occasion, not just a part of our regularly scheduled programming.
Make no mistake, nature is not an occasional vacation destination. Studies show that spending time in 'green spaces' is good for your stress levels, happiness, and health. We are incredibly lucky to live in a city that has easily accessible green spaces, even from campus.
Here are four reasons to spend time outdoors in the midst of exams:
1. Nature can restore your focus
To restore focus and willpower, you need to give your brain regular recovery time by immersing yourself in natural environments. Nature is restorative in its ability to catch your attention in a passive manner, stopping you from draining your brain, and allowing the energy supply to recover. It’s like recharging your battery!
2. Nature helps you relax
Our modern lifestyles can get pretty hectic if we let the stress build up unchecked. Being in a natural environment or a green space can give us a feeling of relaxation that combats anxiety and stress.
Going for a walk in a natural environment is a sure-fire way to de-stress, especially with the vast amount of nature we have in our backyard! The effect is actually so powerful that simply viewing the outdoors or pictures of beautiful natural scenes can affect our thought patterns in a helpful way.
3. Nature is good for your brain
Although artificial environments they can be exciting and stimulating in the short-term, they don’t tick all the boxes in the list of things our brain requires for novelty and excitement.
Nature can give us a sense of being 'away from it all,' either mentally or physically. The natural world is absolutely fascinating! And not just visually-fascinating environments either. Nature provides a myriad of sounds, smells, and textures, all of which are vastly different than a city environment.
4. Nature makes you happy
Spending time in a natural environment can surely boost our mood. We tend to underestimate the benefits that nature can have on our happiness and state of mind.
Studies show that activities in nature make us feel more happy than those same exact activities performed indoors.
It’s easy to forget how happy getting outside makes us—but the more often we practice, the easier it will be to remember!