Nature Walk – A walk in the open green park soothes your mind as you stop gradually stop thinking about the things that have been annoying you and start noticing the beauty of nature around. It slowly relaxes and soothes your mind.
The intensity and pressure of the brain will just keep increasing as our unhealthy lifestyle, and our eating habits are taking a toll on our systems. Studies reveal that factors, like working irregular hours, not eating properly and leading extremely stressful lives, have lead to like problems like depression and stress.
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People living in rural areas receive fresh doses of oxygen on a daily basis that improves their performance on tasks that require mental effort and strength. Less frustration, long-term excitement and engagement in activities with much more zest are examples of a happy brain.
A walk outside is quite beneficial, the results you will observe immediately if you rise from that couch and go out for a walk, so try taking out time from your busy schedule and see the change.
It is true that your brain also reaches a saturation point after a while, and you need to recharge its batteries to have its juices flowing. Our brain also demands energy in the form of oxygen and glucose and our nature provides both.
It has been proved from many studies that moderate amount of walking every day not only boosts the memory but also will strengthen the brain. However, since most of us live in cities today where we are confined to enclosures and going out seems like a task.
However, you can be assured that slowly but gradually you will stop finding it cumbersome and start enjoying the process.
The whole situation seems ironic, isn’t it? We think we are doing better than our forefathers, who lived generations ago. While moving ahead in life, we forgot the basic requirements of our body and mind. Our total concentration was diverted towards materialistic goals and away from our mental wellbeing.
The natural environment and fresh air will decrease the level of stress, release happy hormones and your tensions will instantly evaporate in the fresh air making you will feel rejuvenated.
Our logical reasoning part of the brain demands an explanation of these theories. How can a simple walk in the park release happy hormones, is the question here. How can it help us or our mind when exposed to nature?
Every such answer has been given by Gregory Bratman,(Gregory Bratman | Stanford School of Earth), who vividly studied the psychological effects of urban living.
However, the above studies did not exactly examine or reveal the clear implications of being outside in nature. Therefore, the new study, which was published last week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Mr. Bratman, and his subordinates decided to view closely and analyze the effects of regular walks on a person.
When we repeatedly keep thinking negative about just one thing, it slowly affects our mind and our lives, it is known as brooding. Brooding can be a beginning of the depression, where like a broken record our mind just keeps fretting over the petty and irrelevant stuff.
Rumination is strongly associated with increased activity in the brain was the most interesting theory suggested by Mr. Bratman and his colleagues as a result of their experiments.
He and his colleagues asked 38 healthy city dwellers to fill in a questionnaire to check their levels of their thoughts on a daily basis by dividing them into groups of people going in for walks in crowded places and half of them to open space.
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The result was as expected, people walking in open spaces had improvements in their mental activities and blood flow was high too in comparison to people who walked near crowded places.
Stop dwelling on the negative aspects of your life and be optimistic about things around you. This much-needed downtime replenishes your mind and soul for better productivity and creativity.
Many questions can be asked here to determine the quality and quantity that can be suggested as a sufficient dose for your mental health. Is being in green, open spaces elevate your mood or not? Does being physically active help you gain full psychological benefits or not? How can we find things to amplify our mood and be a calmer being?
So just stop making excuses and give your mind the much-needed rest. Find ways to stimulate your brain for better productivity. Go for a nature walk.
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