Trees, ocean breeze, waterfalls, muddy trails, and the sweet singing of wildlife roars among the greens. These are just some of the elements that make nature the closest we can get to having actual magic here on earth. And mind you, that’s not overstating it.
The thing about nature is that it’s an overrated tourist spot where people visit to take some wicked selfies or travel photos. But if you look at it, it’s really an underrated place where you can improve your overall health and wellness.
In fact, it’s the least expensive option out there if you’ve been looking for a natural cure to break your cycle of feeling less and less productive.
Find out seven ways on how nature can help fire up your passion again and increase your appetite for productivity.
Improves Short Term Memory
Believe it or not, nature has proven itself when it comes to improving short term memory.
A research study was conducted to test the memory of University of Michigan students. They were divided into two groups. After the test, both of the groups were asked to walk around, the first group around an arboretum and the second down a city street.
They run the test once again only to find out that the participants who walked in an arboretum did 20% better than the first time they took the memory test while the ones who walked along the streets did not improve at all.
Improves Concentration and Performance
Another study was conducted to further learn about other benefits of nature. This recent study was evaluated in order for them to qualify the impact of nature on children with ADHD.
The participants were divided into two groups. Same as the study done above, one group was asked to walk around a park, and the other walked down a street. After, they were given the assignment to complete.
The children who visited a park highly showed improvement in concentration and performance as they performed better after they came back from their 20-minute park excursion.
Helps Relieve Stress
Essential oils are a huge help for city dwellers who deal with stress every day. We usually have a bottle of bamboo, mint, and other bottles of natural aromas for our diffusers that can help relieve our stress.
But imagine if you can smell the actual ones, it’s a 100% better healing and experience. Honestly, even as simple as just looking at the trees is enough to ease our anxious minds.
Forest bathing, which originated in Japan, backs the claim that nature is a major player in drastically improving our overall mood. That’s what locals in Japan do when they find it hard to get over the highly stressful environment they deal with every day.
Boosts Your Mood
When we’re in a better disposition, our productivity level tends to be higher than usual. It’s like we’re invigorated to do everything on our to-do list.
Try planning to go on a nature trip every once in a while, or if you must, after a really stressful week at the office. You’re fortunate if you have a nearby park that you can visit during lunch breaks or coffee breaks in the afternoon.
The presence of trees boosts our mood almost instantly, and that’s a gift from nature that we should all be grateful for for the rest of our lives.
Vitamin D is also an important factor. Known to be the sunshine vitamin, getting in touch with sunshine and nature can restore your mental wellness.
Lets You Have Some Aerobic Exercise
Having a sedentary lifestyle can kill your productivity. You wouldn’t expect a thunderstorm of ideas to come to you when you’re just sitting for hours a day.
The worse case is that during the weekend or long holiday breaks, you also just laze around and do nothing. That’s definitely not going to help forge forward in terms of productivity.
When you finally decide to get out of that hole and do a bit of hiking, trust me, it could do you good. Since hiking is a form of aerobic exercise, it allows you to stretch and move your body around, cracking bones that have been stagnant for a long while.
However, we advise you to bring walking sticks to help you find the right balance during steep hills and rough trails. It is to make sure that you don’t injure your leg or your foot since the activity might come as a shock to your body.
Enhances Creativity
There’s a study that links nature and creativity together. It’s a comparative study that put backpackers in the spotlight.
They closely studied these groups of backpackers before and after they were sent out on a 4-day hiking trip. They found out that the hikers are 50% more creative after they communed with nature.
The study took them four days to discover, but in reality, even a short amount of time could actually create an impact already.
Provides Recovery Time
Our productivity level normally wanes from time to time. Like normal functioning adults, we also need some recovery time.
Nature can provide us that.
The beauty of working in an office that’s close to parks is the opportunity to breathe in some fresh air and take a much-needed break. After that, you can come back to your desk, feeling more energized to complete the tasks at hand.
Final Thoughts
Take your vacation leaves and put them to good use. It’s a time not only particularly made for some fun, but it will also give you a chance to reset and come back more productive. All thanks to the power of nature!
Featured Image credit:pexels.com
