Natural Healing
It takes many years to learn a language or play a musical instrument with skill. 10,000 hours is the oft quoted amount of time you have to dedicate to become a consummate Olympic athlete. When you do the maths, this is a number of hours per day over a number of years that is unimaginable for everyone other than those with the evident talent at a young age. However, underlying all these pursuits lies the same formula. Daily routines and practice. Few of us harbour the talent or the realistic desire to win Gold medals, however, we all have the potential to adopt regular short, simple daily activities that we will benefit from.
A recent study was published reiterating the benefits of regularly interacting with nature. Being outdoors can trigger measurable changes inside your body from lowering stress hormones, easing blood pressure and even improving your gut health. We think the reason for these positive body system responses is due to our autonomic nervous system; a network of nerves controlling unconscious processes. During our early life it learns to respond to stimuli associated with relaxation and recuperation. We are all aware of our flight/flight reflex that occurs the instant we feel danger. This is controlled by our peripheral nervous system and has evolved from when we were monkeys. Adrenaline pumps around the body, our heart races, our breathing rate increases, blood is diverted to our muscles as we prepare to defend ourselves. The autonomic system response is exactly the opposite: lowering blood pressure, dropping our pulse rate, relaxing all of our bodily systems.
Stimuli that we associate with feeling safe will trigger the autonomic nervous system. Green spaces, birdsong, smell of citrus oils have all been shown to bring about these responses. It is not surprising that putting our bodies in their ‘resting, safe, stand-by’ mode regularly during the day is of benefit to both our physical and mental well-being. Our immune system is also bolstered, the theory being that it has time to re-energise. Studies have shown that our virus fighting ability is increased by 25% after an extended periods in nature.
You don’t have to hike for hours to benefit from exposure to nature as maximum impact happens after just 20 minutes. So, a lunchtime walk to the park and then a sandwich on a bench or in your garden a few times a week will suffice. A diffuser producing the smell of a pine forest can make you calmer within just 90 seconds and that effect lasts for about 10 minutes. Flowers such as white or yellow roses have been shown to create the greatest calming effect on brain activity. Research has also confirmed that pictures of nature as your screensaver can trigger the same calming brainwave changes and reduce stress.
So simple, short and regular relaxing stimuli can be just as healthy as regular visits to the gym. Turning on our autonomic nervous system every day is easy if we set up our environment and our routines to give it a regular and repetitive workout.
Anthony O’Brien