Americans vow to get in shape at the worst possible time of the year, just when miserable weather forces us indoors.
We do have health clubs. And winter kicks off the mall-walking season. But some suspect we need more than just physical exercise to stay healthy: We need the emotional healing benefits of green exercise.
Also known as eco-therapy, green exercise simply means doing something, almost anything, outside. You can get substantial mental health benefits — reduced stress, depression and anger, and enhanced mood and self-esteem — simply by seeking out the natural world, according to growing evidence from researchers in the United States, Scandinavia and Britain.
Researchers at the University of Essex in Britain found that treadmill runners who zoned out on idyllic rural views during a 20-minute run had a substantial drop in blood pressure and improved psychological outcomes. Green exercise could mean sitting in a park, biking to work, walking, fishing or digging in the dirt. Even mall walking, which can feel more fatiguing than an hour run, doesn’t boost self-esteem as much as strolling through the woods for those diagnosed with mental health problems, according to Jules Pretty, a professor of environment and society at the University of Essex, a hotbed of green-exercise research.
“Clearly nature delivers important health benefits if we reorganize lifestyles and behaviors,” Pretty recently wrote in a commentary published in New Scientist.
