By Jean Larson
Time spent in nature is essential for our health and comes with myriad benefits. Here are my top ten reasons for fostering a connection with nature at all stages of life.
- Nature-based health promotion has a positive effect on human wellbeing and serves as an important public health intervention.
- Biophilia is our innate, genetic connection to plants and nature, based on meaningful experiences that emotionally bond us to, and establish a love of, nature.
- Biophobia is both a reaction of our sympathetic nervous system to stresses found in nature that, over time, have been essential for human survival (e.g., poisonous mushrooms and saber-toothed tigers) and a learned social fear of nature.
- Finding green space or a connection with nature (e.g., potting a plant or looking at a beautiful garden) activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which relaxes and restores our mind, body and spirit, and allows us to feel restored, creative, happier and more mindful.
- In the current Anthropocene era, the more we move towards technology, the more we need nature — the two require a balance.
- Investing in green space is not only a good investment for human mental and physical health; it is also essential for planetary health.
- Nearby nature is a free, accessible means of self-care and a basic right of all.
- A sense of connection with plants, animals and nature is a strong predictor of positive conservation behavior.
- In childhood, positive and direct experiences in nature and supportive role models are the two primary factors that contribute most to an individual, as an adult, taking active steps to care for the planet.
- The most immediate and meaningful connection with nature forms by engaging through our senses; touch, taste, sight, sound and smell. This connection can happen at any time throughout our lives and can occur in any setting.
Can you think of any other reasons to add? What inspires you to connect with nature? What positive impacts do you receive from fostering a connection to nature in your life? Take time today to connect with the natural environment around you and observe how mindful interaction with nature impacts your physical and mental wellbeing.
Dr. Jean Larson is the manager of Nature-Based Therapeutics and Nature Heals Initiative at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and is faculty lead of the Nature-Based Therapeutic Studies at the Earl Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing of the University of Minnesota.
Photo by Jason Boudreau-Landis