3 Ways Nature Can Support Mental Health

So you’d like to feel better right?   

First, let’s address the big white elephant in the room. There are some fundamental principles that I feel are wrong in the modern developed culture.

One of them is the way in which particularly in the UK we have labelled ‘mental health’ as bad, particularly when it comes to anxiety and depression. Statistics that are published on websites like mind.org.uk promoting that anxiety and depression are problems, when in reality they are really part of the human experience. 

But who really wants to put their hand up and say they think they have a problem? 

Definitely not me.

Instead I internalised my feelings and didn’t understand why I felt so low, disconnected and ultimately anxious and depressed. As a CEO and leader of an organisation, who was I to share my weakness and vulnerability?

Unfortunately for me, the pressure got to much and I was ultimately diagnosed with an illness. However, through my healing journey I have rediscovered the importance of my own mental wellbeing. 

In this article I want to share with you three simple strategies where nature can help you boost your own physical and mental wellbeing. 

Spend time in Nature & Green Spaces

Interestingly the earth’s resonant frequency is 7.83 Hz, which is also the human brains average alpha frequency. This is the frequency associated with relaxation, visualisation and calming awareness.  Just one good reason to spend as much time in nature as possible!

Reconnect With Earth

To take it to the next level, reconnecting the body with earth.

You can do this by spending time barefoot on the grass, lawn or beach. We used to spend every minute of our lives doing this, but now in most cases we spend a very small amount of time physically connected to the earth.

Science is now catching up and providing evidence on this…

A lot of chronic illnesses are caused with increased levels of chronic inflammation over extended periods of time. Earthing has been found to help significantly reduce inflammation levels and therefore having an extremely profound effect on not just our mental wellbeing, but also our physical wellbeing as well. 

Other Earthing strategies can be Earthing sheets for beds and earthing mats for when we work at a computer. Serious biohackers and health optimisers are now achieving connection with earth at over 95% of the time. 

To learn more about the power of Earthing, check out the The Free Earthing Movie on YouTube.  

Morning and Evening Light 

Andrew Huberman is a leading neuroscience professor and he stresses the importance of natural light when it comes to our physical and mental health and immunity. 

The bottom line is that his recommendation is to view morning and evening sunlight for 2 - 10 minutes each and preferably on most days, even when it is cloudy or through a window if you are unable to get outside. 

Don’t start directly into the sunlight, just be around it and feel the signals that is sends into your body.  

Natural light helps keep natures clocks in order helping get better and deeper rest and recovery by signalling the right processes at the right time. 

If you can build the above strategies into your routines, I am confident that it will profoundly help you make progress with your own physical and mental wellbeing. 

Mark Bryant

Operations Director at Fast Way to Fitness