Mother Nature issues a wake-up call

Futurity.org – Mother Nature issues a wake-up call

We have been trekking all over St Petersburg these last few days, enjoying the divine weather, sunny skies, chill winds, blue of the Neva river, and the parks, all green with trees putting on their spring fashionwear.

According to a study done at the University of Rochester, this is good for us, energizing us. The article link is for all the doubters and sceptics, who actually didn't know this already!

What is novel about this research, write the authors, is that it carefully tests whether this increased vitality associated with the outdoors is simply the feel-good spillover from physical activity and people-mixing often present in these situations.
To tease out the effects of nature alone, the authors conducted five separate experiments, involving 537 college students in actual and imagined contexts.
In one experiment, participants were led on a 15-minute walk through indoor hallways or along a tree-lined river path. In another, the undergraduates viewed photographic scenes of buildings or landscapes. A third experiment required students to imagine themselves in a variety of situations both active and sedentary, inside and out, and with and without others.
Two final experiments tracked participants’ moods and energy levels throughout the day using diary entries. Over either four days or two weeks, students recorded their exercise, social interactions, time spent outside, and exposure to natural environments, including plants and windows.
Across all methodologies, individuals consistently felt more energetic when they spent time in natural settings or imagined themselves in such situations.
The findings were particularly robust, notes Ryan; being outside in nature for just 20 minutes in a day was enough to significantly boost vitality levels.

(My teenage son came along on these walks, without the crutch of an ipod, with a pleasant expression on his face, and was actually amused at the antics of the gulls, terns and ducks on the river, and the sparrows and fat pigeons in the park. Hmmmm, so maybe there is still hope!!)