We live in a world where we spend most of our time in front of screens. Browsing the internet, chatting, watching clips and streaming movies. Especially in the last year during the pandemic our digital consumption increased and we have to balance that more than ever with spending time in nature.
BRAIN FOOD
Spending time in a park, or even better, camping at a great spot outside in nature, significantly impacts your brain. Simply being exposed to all of nature’s wonders stimulates the brain. Your prefrontal cortex which is responsible for your mind’s commands, can take a bit of a rest and revitalize.
Generally, spending a lot of time in natural surroundings makes people a lot more creative and productive once they return home. Your short-term memory improves, and your attention skills are boosted.
NATURAL HEALER
Hospital patients, such as those who have had surgery, recover much better and faster if they have a view of wonderful natural greenery from their windows, instead of just staring at brick walls. Taking a step further and spending extended periods of time in forest bathing (which is known in Japan as shinrin-yoku) improves your heart rate, blood pressure, and cortisol levels.
There is also the fact proven by Korean scientists – when people are more exposed to images of urban scenes instead of natural ones, the blood flow to the amygdala is greater. As a result, the brain reacts a lot more by expressing anxiety and fear. On the other hand, when looking at the images of forests and various natural wonders, the people who participated in the research had shown that the blood flows much more into the anterior cingulate instead, which is connected to empathy and compassion.
IMMUNE BOOSTER
Spending time in nature boost your immunity and inflammation has lower chance to develop various autoimmune diseases and even, in the worst case, cancer.
It is important to mention the effect of phytoncides (wood essential oils). They are produced by plants and are airborne, so you get the chance to breathe a lot of them during your forest hikes, camping, and alike. Take it as free medicine to boost your health.
YES, CAMPING
The perfect time offline is Camping, because you can be completely unplugged. It is also good for sleeping. Your biological clock gets reset, and you can solve all your sleeping problems, like insomnia. A lot of it is related to the fact that when camping, you get the chance to adapt to the natural cycle of light and dark and immerse yourself into the health effects of natural light.
Finally, camping provides you with a great sense of freedom, and a chance for everyone to learn new things, like cooking on a fire, securing your space and be aware of natural life.