Nature v. Stress

As I was catching up on my professional reading, an article on fear in families in the Family Therapy Magazine caught my eye. The statistics are ugly: around 40 million Americans are estimated to have some kind of anxiety disorder; and five percent of parents reported their children had some type of emotional or behavioral difficulty in 2006. (Of course, those figures do not even include people – adults, children and teens – who don’t have a diagnosable disorder but are still coping with crippling stress.) The article concluded that “fear is creating an epidemic in American families today.”

One of the results of this epidemic of fear is that people are staying inside more and more, which isn’t good for anybody. Richard Louv, author of The Last Child in the Woods, points out that as individuals and families spend more of their time indoors, kids are being deprived of Nature, which leads to a “diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses (in children and adults alike).”

While the article listed the movement to stay indoors as just one more of the dire consequences of all the free-floating fear going around in our country, I saw possibilities. If staying indoors impairs one’s well-being, then going out should improve it. Research bears this out.

Studies have found that including Nature in peoples’ day seems to lift their moods. Visual cues alone can have an impact. Having a view to look at regularly, particularly one where you are up on a hill looking down, is a big plus. Sources of water (e.g., rivers, ponds, fountains), trees, and animals to look at also help. My own observations of clients and friends alike is that people who get more actual daylight rather than whatever lights are used inside, whether compact fluorescent or incandescent, tend to feel more relaxed and happier as well.

Better yet for keeping your stress load down would be to stop looking out the window and actually go outside more. Find green places to hang out: from small parks in the city where you can swing on a swing set all the way through national parks where you can hike through old growth forests. Even being out in a neighborhood with grass, trees and the occasional flower is better than nothing.

The bottom line is that the more nature you include in your environment, the better your mood. If you are stuck inside working on a term paper for the foreseeable future, at least try to get a living plant on your desk. Also, take breaks from your computer to go outside. And start making plans to get into nature with friends and family.

Nancy Linnerooth, Stress Coach

206.459.1589