Even emphatic city dwellers who crave the bustle and commotion of urban living escape to vacation spots that embrace nature’s best, such as the countryside, mountains, or beaches when in search of relaxation. At a time when many of us are removed from the natural world, and steadily controlled by various technologies, perhaps there’s more significance in communing with nature than we realize.
A group of growing psychologists believes that many modern-day mental troubles, including depression, stress and anxiety, are indicative of our increasing disconnection from green life. When these psychological issues arise, we look to solve and prevent them with antidepressants, meditative techniques, or therapy. But practitioners of the developing field of ecotherapy share this stance: spending time outdoors is, in itself, a powerful mood enhancer.
Ecotherapists say that humans have evolved in synchrony with nature for millions of years and that interacting with elements of the environment like air, water, plants, and animals, is hard-wired within us. But urbanization has removed people from their natural surroundings. No longer are our actions guided solely by natural cycles, like the sun and moon and the passing of seasons, but ruled by contemporary technologies, like the Internet. And where once humans lived embedded in nature, today more than half the world’s population resides in cities.
In the book Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind, authors Buzzell and Chalquist describe how modern humans feel frazzled and out of sync due to a sped-up, complex society, in which there just isn’t enough time for everything. In dealing simultaneously with demanding jobs, family priorities, stressful commutes and constant online communications, we’re stretched thin and psychologically exhausted.
An ecotherapist’s prescription for your stress and anxiety? Reconnect with nature and its inhabitants to slow down to a more natural pace of living. Begin by keeping a nature journal, in which you record how much time you spend outdoors versus the number of hours you spend inside in front of a screen. Many people are surprised to find that they spend less than 15 to 30 minutes a day outside, sometimes just walking to and from their cars. Up your time with nature by gardening, hiking, or simply taking walks outdoors. A 2007 study by researchers at the University of Essex in England found that a daily dose of walking outdoors in nature can be as effective as taking antidepressants for treating mild to moderate depression (walking inside, say a shopping mall, or in an urban setting increased depression).
Though these suggestions sound simple, research shows that reconnecting with nature could lower stress and anxiety, improve well being, and help to remind us of the bigger picture and life’s purpose.
