Too busy, too tired, too poor, too overloaded … for a holiday?
Why these thoughts are robbing you of a life-enriching green-space daily micro holiday!
I can recall times when friends or colleagues have commented on my excited preparations for my anticipated and imminent holiday. On occasions I have even momentarily been caught off guard and feel guilty and silenced. There are so many reasons why we think we can or can’t take a holiday, but I want you to consider with me why we MUST plan holidays … just like we plan meals for the day (may be sort of 😊); appointments; chores; showers; brushing teeth … everything has a loose or tight schedule in our day. But do we schedule in an annual holiday; a quarterly long-weekend break away or even a real ‘day off’ each week? Well, now may be the time to start changing things up.
So, getting to the crux of the matter, research is very clear that positive psychological wellbeing does reduce the risk of mortality for both unwell and healthy populations! So how do we get some of this positive psychological wellbeing you ask? One place to start is searching out some green-space in your local community and basking in it as you take a brisk walk. Then ramp it up a notch and take a little drive into the countryside … ideally find some bushland, green pastures or anywhere where you can enjoy a walk or, if you’re up for it – a hike! So, what’s the science behind green-space and wellbeing?
Well, just so we are together on the meaning of ‘wellbeing’ I have made a quick google search and found this all-encompassing definition which sums it up well for me: “Wellbeing is not just the absence of disease or illness. It is a complex combination of a person's physical, mental, emotional and social health factors. Wellbeing is strongly linked to happiness and life satisfaction. In short, wellbeing could be described as how you feel about yourself and your life.”
Increasingly scientists are providing us with indisputable evidence that our being in nature has a significant impact physiologically and psychologically - on our brains and our behaviour.
A couple of interesting studies have been undertaken in forest environments in Japan. One study looked at the psychological effects of forest environments on health adults and found it was strong in managing acute emotions, especially chronic stress. It is increasingly accepted now that any physical activity can reduce stress and anxiety. However, fine tuning the science here is critical because it is also becoming increasingly clear that being in nature may enhance those impacts.
Another study also undertaken in Japan assigned participants to walk either in a forest or in an urban centre. They found that “walking in the forest environment may promote cardiovascular relaxation by facilitating the parasympathetic nervous system and by suppressing the sympathetic nervous system”. The results indicated that the participants who walked in forests had significantly lower heart rates and higher heart rate variability which reflects greater relaxation and less stress. They also reported healthier moods and less anxiety than those who walked in urban settings. The study concluded that the stronger positive affect must be due to something in the context of being in nature that more effectively produces a positive effect on stress reduction beyond the known positive effect of exercise alone.
Are you having trouble with your memory or too much rumination? Well, green-space may well be your answer again! There has been a study undertaken again, of walkers in a woodland setting and another group in an urban setting which has found that those who walked in nature not only found it improved their performance on the memory tasks but they experienced less anxiety, rumination and negative affect, as well as more positive emotions in contrast to the urban walkers.
Finally, recognising that there is so much more research evidence on the benefits to being out in nature, we can conclude that by reducing stress and other psychological challenges and restoring physiological issues, simply being outdoors does make us feel happier and experience greater vitality.
Studies continue to explore so many different aspects of the wellbeing impact on the individual and green-space. However, I want to focus now on the power of nature or green-space from the aspect of generating a sense of awe.
Why? Well, who doesn’t love the “WOW!” moment of awe … and because feeling awe can make you physiologically healthier and psychologically happier.
The cytokine system is a part of the immune system which is currently generating interesting research some of which suggests a hyperactive cytokine response may cause an individual to become chronically sick and vulnerable to disease. Researcher Jennifer Stellar has speculatively “found that of all the positive emotions, only awe predicted reduced levels of cytokines to a statistically significant degree”. There is growing research which adds to this speculative conclusion of the positive relationship of nature and positive emotions inspires awe.
To keep things simple here are a couple of YouTube viewings to help inspire you to understand and want some awe for yourself. Leading researchers in this field include Lani Shiota who discusses “How Awe Transforms the Body and Mind” and then Dacher Keltner who discusses “Why Awe Is Such an Important Emotion”. Oh! And why every day? Simple … research tells us that frequency matters!
Meanwhile, here’s a great way to start practicing 1) inserting green-space into your daily life and 2) building your experiences of awe 😊.
Start simple – make it a cost free daily micro holiday!
Plan
• Commit to your 30 minute (minimum) ‘daily holiday’ every day for seven days.
• At the beginning of the week plan a different ‘holiday destination/activity’ for each day (e.g. a scenic walk; get outdoors somewhere and watch the sunrise; again, outdoors, watch the sunset; walk through a leafy suburb; walk on the beach; gentle bush walk; or a hike if you’re up for it). There are unlimited possibilities; focus on personal enjoyable activities.
Before daily vacation
This is a time to relax. So, commit to leaving all the stress, anxiety, excuses and distractions behind just for a short time (believe me they can wait 😊).
During daily vacation
Focus on being in the present moment – absorb everything you can see and feel. Notice how you feel. If stress, to do lists, or any other thoughts come into your mind, gently let them go ‘just for now’. What positive emotions are you feeling? Take a mental note of all of them. Outwardly express your emotions.
Post daily vacation
Plan for tomorrow; what will tomorrow’s daily vacation be? Look forward to it.
Daily before bed
Take at least five minutes to review and re-experience the positive emotions that you savoured during your daily vacation that day.
At the week’s end
Take ten to fifteen minutes to recall all of the positive emotions that you felt and savoured in the past seven days. Recall how you felt this past week as compared to a normal week for you. Are there any differences? How do you feel right now?
What Next?
Let’s repeat this week again and when you’re ready let’s ramp it up a notch and take a little drive into the countryside … ideally find some bushland, green pastures or anywhere where you can enjoy a walk or, if you’re up for it – a hike! You know the science behind green-space and wellbeing and so now let’s build on the awesome!
Now, are we ready to give up any thoughts that are robbing us of a life-enriching green-space daily micro holiday?
Are we really too busy, too tired, too poor, too overwhelmed … for a dose of green-space – a daily micro holiday? Of course not! It’s actually just what the doctor would order!