Benefits of Being Outdoors
How much time do you spend outside every week? For a lot of people, that time is not very long. Most jobs are inside. People have homes to take care of and chores to do in the house. Plus, there are tons of ways to occupy your time without ever setting a single foot outside the house.
For all those reasons, a lot of people don’t get enough fresh air, as the saying goes, and it’s a shame. Time spent outdoors can be amazing in a lot of respects. It can also be downright good for your health. There are countless benefits to spending time outdoors. We’re just listing five that we find compelling.
Vitamin D
This is the easy one. Sunlight helps your body naturally produce vitamin D, and it’s good for you in so many ways. Vitamin D boosts your immune system and helps you prevent infections and other health problems.
It helps with mood and your mental health. It can lower cancer risks and boost your ability to combat inflammation and recover from injuries. Vitamin D is practically a miracle vitamin, and you don’t have to eat or drink anything special for it. You just need to get outside a couple of hours a week.
According to researchers, just two hours a week is enough to promote healthy vitamin D production — although the exact right number will vary from person to person.
Physical Activity
Being outside correlates with spending more time on your feet and moving. Sure, you can lounge in a chair and soak up the sun, but if you spend enough time outside, you’re bound to move around, and that’s great.
The movement is great for building up your muscular health. It can help with cardio health and circulation too. Moving reinforces the inflammation control that is aided by vitamin D. The truth is that it’s easy to sit around too much these days, and getting outside is the easiest solution to that problem.
Hormone Balances
Science hasn’t perfectly pinned down why, but being outside tends to cause our bodies to release a bunch of positive hormones. These hormones can definitely help with things like depression and anxiety, but they extend far beyond mental health.
The hormones you release from spending time outside can lower your blood pressure. They can help you recover from injuries and other health issues. They promote general wellness that can reinforce all these other benefits and help you maintain a healthier lifestyle altogether.
Sleep Cycles
This one is pretty cool. Are you familiar with circadian rhythms? This is how science explains our natural tendencies to be daytime people. We sleep at night and work during the day not just because it’s easier to see. We’re biologically wired that way.
Spending time outdoors exposes you to natural light and natural light cycles. This exposure helps to calibrate your circadian rhythm, and that can help you sleep better. If you have trouble getting to sleep, try to avoid artificial light before bed (especially looking at screens). Also, increase your outdoor time to the extent that you can. It will help in many cases.
Stimulation
There are plenty of ways to find stimulation while you are indoors, but outdoor stimulation is on another level. The range of things to see is drastic. Rather than focusing on a single screen or indoor item, your eyes will constantly be focusing on things close and far. That’s actually good for visual health.
The same happens with your ears. Sounds of all kinds come at you from all directions, and it’s a massive source of stimulation. That’s to say nothing of the endless scents of outdoor aromas, from flowers to pine needles to fresh-cut grass. For some, all of this stimulation might sound overwhelming, but it’s actually good for you. The stimulation helps your brain and your body, and it’s a major part of how nature time can help alleviate things like depression, anxiety, and stress. Outdoor adventures alone aren’t a cure, but they can be part of a comprehensive approach to wellness. If any of this sounds promising, then it’s OK to think about easy ways to spend more time outdoors. One of your best resources is your own lawn. If you want to make your personal outdoor space more inviting and enjoyable, contact Clearfork Lawn Care for landscape design and lawn care in the Fort Worth area. It doesn’t really matter what you do, as long as you spend time in the great outdoors. We can help you cultivate a space that helps you get the most from your time outside. Give us a call or reach out online.