Nature and Health
Nature has a calming and rejuvenating effect on the most anxious and weary of souls. Soft swaying palm leaves, breeze ruffled lake waters, resplendent gushing waterfalls, incredible sunsets and views over valleys, are just some of the luxuries that Mother Nature has left for us to experience and enjoy.
Unfortunately, with the hectic pace of modern lifestyles, busy and demanding careers, families, kids, school, meetings and the like, people don’t spend anywhere near as much time in the outdoors surrounded by nature as they should do. A tongue in cheek ad showing a beautiful and picturesque forest scene, with rambling vines, moss, shrubs and tree trunks, with the caption ‘’The Original PlayStation’’ is as sad as it is true.
Most children, unless they live in the country, spend their time in front of a TV, PlayStation, and Xbox, or in front of the computer instead of playing outside, in the beautiful arms of nature. Modern lifestyles have dictated that many families live in small apartments or terraced houses, so kids don’t’ have anywhere to go and kick around a ball in the first place.
There are so many benefits that nature provides for our physiological, emotional and physical well-being, and to be balanced and experience less mental fatigue, is rather becoming the exception as opposed to the rule. Being outdoors, sailing in the open water, hiking through a tropical rainforest, kayaking in the sea, walking with the dogs, these are all activities that provide our psyches with that time out, the time to touch sides, to spend time with our loved ones and to just let our minds be still.
The rewards of this fairly simple activity are everything that our bodies need, and do a great deal in helping us unwind from the tightly wound up knot that none of us really realise we are in all the time.
Therapists and health care professionals actually use outdoor activities as part of their health recommendations and healing plans. Spending time with animals, horses, pets and other wildlife, are all considered to be a spiritual and healing experience, and for those people suffering from trauma or loss, nature and animals provide them with the most powerful healing properties of all; way much more than any prescribed drug on this earth could provide.
How much time do you spend outdoors? When last did you take the family to the beach, for a walk in the forest or ride your bike with your kids? There is no time to get back out there like the present, to enjoy the spoils of this incredible world around us.
Reposted from
qa-nature.com
