Spending time outdoors can really do something for your soul, and it’s a massive boost for your mental health too. In fact, getting outdoors is often recommended by mental health professionals as part of the options you can try to help you feel better.
But what exactly helps when you’re outdoors, and how can you use the world around you to help you feel better?
In the first instance, simply getting out and taking a deep breath of fresh air can be enough. Try standing there with your eyes closed and taking slow, deep breaths for a minute or two. And if you need more, then we have ideas you can try.
Being in Nature
It’s not even doing anything outside; it’s simply finding a space outdoors you feel comfortable in and being there. That’s it.
You can walk or lie down, you can do it in your own garden, go to the coast, a forest, or a park. It doesn’t actually matter just that you’re outdoors.
And research has consistently shown that exposure to green spaces lowers cortisol and reduces the kind of low-level anxiety that builds up from being indoors or from excessive screen time.
If that’s not enough to tempt you outside, then nothing will.
But the key here isn’t just going outside in one big burst occasionally. It’s consistent regular exposure, just ten minutes per day, can be enough for you to start feeling better, even if you’re in a big city. Going outside is beneficial.
Yard Work and Outdoor Projects
If you like getting stuck into something practical, then working on your yard or starting a new outdoor project can be exactly what you need to get you doing something outside.
Plus, physical work outdoors is the best of both worlds. You get the exercise and mental stimulation of diving into a new project, and you get the benefit of being outdoors while you do it.
So what exactly do we mean by yard work and outdoor projects?
This can range from removing weeds to mowing the lawn or even washing down outdoor furniture and surfaces, i.e., ie jetwashing a patio. Or, it can be chopping down wood — a cordless chainsaw makes work like this much easier, or you can decide to create a raised flower bed (again, the chainsaw can be perfect for cutting wood to size here), or you can start growing a vegetable patch, or even make your own garden furniture from wood or pallets. It’s entirely up to you. Just get outside, look at what you can do to improve your outdoor space or spaces within your local community, and do it.
Walking and Hiking
Walking is one of the most accessible outdoor activities there is, and the benefits of walking outdoors have been well documented. A 20-minute walk is all you need — it doesn’t even need to be at once. And when you take longer walks, especially in natural settings like trails, woods, coastline, etc., these can have a stronger effect on your mood and be beneficial for anxiety.
Hiking, however, adds another element to the mix. You get the benefits of walking, but you also get the added physical challenge, which produces endorphins, which makes you feel good. Plus, the focus required for hiking can interrupt negative thought patterns, which is a good thing.
You don’t need loads of gear to get started, but comfortable shoes and water bottles. Here you can find simple, accessible hiking routes, or you can use apps like AllTrails to find new, more complex routes as you get more experienced.
Outdoor Exercise
Outdoor exercise can be anything you wish. It can be hiking, as mentioned, it can be swimming in an outdoor pool, it can be group sports, or you can go for a run. It’s entirely up to you.
But taking classes outdoors that you would normally do indoors, like circuits, resistance bandwork, or even strength training, gives you exercise benefits you usually get with added Vitamin D in the mix.
Vitamin D from sun exposure has a direct relationship with your mood. A deficiency is closely linked to depression, and a significant portion of the population is deficient in Vitamin D without even knowing it.
So any type of exercise outdoors helps you make sure your levels of Vitamin D are where they need to be, and that in itself can be all you need.
Forest Bathing
Forest bathing is the practice of spending slow, ow intentional time in wooded environments. The practice originated in Japan and is known as shinrin-yoku. And it’s been studied extensively to determine its physiological effects.
The thing with forest bathing is not about the exercise or even doing anything within the forest environment; it’s about being slow and deliberate. It engages your senses with what is around you, and studies have shown that forest bathing can reduce blood pressure, lower cortisol, and increase activity in the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for rest and recovery.
It doesn’t even necessarily need to be a forest, just a space of dense greenery with tree cover and low foot traffic.
Cold Water Swimming
Open water swimming has been extremely popular for many years now. The case for mental health benefits is strong, and people find a great many reasons to take a dip and swim in open water. However, cold water swimming triggers a norepinephrine release that produces a sustained mood lift. Regular cold water swimmers report that they feel lower rates of depression and anxiety than non-cold water swimmers. And even if it’s anecdotal, it’s worth trying to see if you gain any of these benefits too.
On top of this, you get the social aspect too. Most open water swimming communities are welcoming, and the shared experience of doing it with like-minded others can help you create a real connection and give you the social aspect that can also be a mood booster for many people too. If this is something you do not want to try, you can find open water swimming groups across the country for you to join.
