Two Hours Of Nature A Week Improves Your Health
Cultivate your bond with nature by diving into its shapes, colors, sounds, smells, textures … Science supports it: you will return home refreshed.
To achieve your full health potential, experts recommend spending at least two hours a week in nature. Benefiting from forest baths is equally possible in the city. And, in cities, a few hours a week in contact with green spaces, even spread over different days, also provide health and well-being.
Matt White, a researcher at the University of Exeter, explains that people who spend at least two hours a week in a natural environment have better physical and mental health. This is concluded by a study that he has directed.
Science says it: 2 hours of nature per week
If future research confirms this, enjoying two hours a week in green and blue spaces could be the new general health recommendation, along with eating more than five servings of fruits and vegetables or getting 150 minutes of exercise a week.
Their study concludes that the effects do not change if the two “green” hours are passed in a single session or several shorter visits. The important thing is to dive into nature frequently.
The ideal place for your weekly green baths
Both for a forest bath and for a walk through a natural park, the guides and experts in “green baths” recommend places where there are grown, mature and well-rooted trees.
The more diversity the better. But it must be a nearby natural environment so that it is not lazy to get there and that it gives a feeling of security. Once in the place, it is advisable to choose paths with little traffic, but safe.
Running or brisk walking is, of course, healthy, but a leisurely walk provides specific benefits. Stopping, observing everything around us, awakening the senses and modifying habitual thoughts has a profound effect on the body.
It is recommended not to include distracting technological devices in the backpack. Or take them off and use them only in an emergency. Nor is it advisable to use perfumes, because they prevent appreciating the aromas of nature.
How to plan nature walks
You can set a dynamic according to the time available. Divide your walks into three stages:
- Opening. It is a very relaxed stage in which you walk slowly.
- Awareness. This second stage implies paying more attention and awareness to the visual, sound and fragrant spectacle offered by the forest or green space. It will be, in reality, the stage of greatest disconnection. It can be aimless, but if the person does not like improvisation, they can set goals: to reach a certain source, tree or hill.
- Closing. When it comes time to return you will do it in a more animated way.
In a forest you can make a circular route of 1.2 to 2 kilometers. In a park you can choose to take off your shoes and feel the grass or dirt for a while.
Some experts suggest looking for “five beautiful things”, for example: a leaf, the light between the branches, the texture of a trunk, a butterfly or a flower. Here you have more information on how to take a forest bath.
Basic ritual to perform in your forest baths
- Shake your body for a few seconds to release tension, like animals do when they get out of the water.
- Notice the weight of your feet on the ground, with your eyes closed.
- Swing your arms and notice the space you occupy.
- Listen to the sounds of the environment.
- Open your eyes and look at the landscape as if it were the first time.
- He walks like a fox, with stealthy steps and noticing the entire sole of the foot.
- Stand up when something catches your eye.
- Leave a gift in the forest: a mound of stones, some sticks … and enjoy that creative tribute. They are advice from Amos Clifford, author of Forest Baths (Ed. Sirio).
