Being outside will improve your health!
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At last Spring is here! The warmth and sweet smell of flowers has returned to the air and I am most grateful. 2020 has been a long hard year for everyone which I don’t think has faired well for anyone’s mental or physical health. My clothes don’t fit me as well, I have hidden the scales, I have noticed grey hairs for the first time and my GP has just told me my blood pressure has risen! I am blaming this all on Covid19 and the wine and cheese we have used to compensate.
One thing I have not compromised on though is exercise. I have prioritised it over many other things and I am perfectly fine with this. It keeps me sane and able to deal with what ever life throws at me. In lockdown, I would let our daughter watch a movie while I thrashed out my online aerobics and we would regularly go for a walk in nature. Now that she is back at school, I am out walking daily in the Adelaide Hills. I have walked our local track for years but this year there has been exponential growth in bush walkers. Why?
“I know walking in the bush has always made me feel better mentally and physically but recent studies have proven it has widespread benefits for us. ”
I was blaming it on the gyms being closed and people working from home. However this has largely returned to normal in Adelaide but the bush is still not the same. Have people become consciously or unconsciously aware that bush walks make them feel better? I know walking in the bush has always made me feel better mentally and physically but recent studies have proven it has widespread benefits for us.
“spending 120 minutes a week in natural environments lowers your blood pressure.”
A study has shown that spending 120 minutes a week in natural environments lowers your blood pressure. You don’t need to be exercising, you can break the 120 minutes into which ever intervals work for you and spending more than 120 minutes a week added no extra benefit (1).
Health benefits of being outside
Another paper compared many studies which showed a multitude of benefits of being outside (2). These include:
Increase life expectancy
Decrease risk of preterm birth
Lower blood pressure and heart rate
Decrease risk of cardiovascular disease
Decrease risk of diabetes (type II)
Lower stress hormone (cortisol) levels
Decrease nervous system arousal
Enhance immune system function
Increase self esteem
Decrease anxiety
Increase mood
Decrease attention deficit disorder and aggression
Decrease risk of asthma
Another study (3) showed that being outside decreased feelings of isolation, promoted calm and lifted mood.
“being outside decreased feelings of isolation, promoted calm and lifted mood”
With this crazy year that is Covid19, nearly all of us have felt heightened stress and anxiety and isolation during periods of lockdown. If we all just get outside in nature or even tend to your pot plants on the balcony if you are isolated in lockdown in an apartment for 120 minutes/ week you will feel healthier and happier. Have a BBQ!
Being cold can help you loose weight and eliminate Diabetes
Lastly here is another way to easily improve your health. Did you know that being cold can increase your metabolism which can help you loose weight?! The cold stimulates brown fat (good fat) cells production which in turn produces heat to warm you up. This production of heat requires energy so therefore burning calories. It has also been shown that brown fat production improves insulin sensitivity thus decreasing the risk of type II diabetes too. It also lowers fatty acids and triglycerides (cholesterol) (4). Eating chilli and drinking coffee are also suggested to stimulate brown fat. You need to be cold as often as possible to get long lasting benefits though. So turn the heater off, exercise outside in the winter, enjoy your coffee and hot curry and wear less clothes (within socially accepted standards).
“brown fat production improves insulin sensitivity .. lowers fatty acids and triglycerides”
Summary
2020 has been a stressful year for everyone which has adverse effects of your health
Getting outside for 120 minutes/ week can significantly improve your physical and mental health
Being cold can help you loose weight and decrease the risk of Type II diabetes.
References:
White, M.P., Alcock, I.,Grellier, J et al. (2019). Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing. Scientific Reports V 9 Article 7730.
Twohig-Bennett, C. & Jones, A. (2018). The health benefits of the great outdoors: A systematic review and meta-analysis of greenspace exposure and health outcomes. Environmental Research V 166 pp 628-637.
Pieters, H.C., Ayala, L., Schneider, A., Wicks, N., Levine-Dickman, A., Clinton, S. (2019) Gardening on a psychiatric inpatient unit: cultivating recovery. V 33 (I 1) pp 57-64.
Lee P, Smith S, Linderman J, et al. Temperature-acclimated brown adipose tissue modulates insulin sensitivity in humans. Diabetes. 2014;63(11):3686-3698. doi:10.2337/db14-0513
