Friday, August 23, 2019

A Study Concludes Spending Time Outside is Healthy. A Real Story




I've always enjoyed spending time in nature. I always felt good about my time spent there. I didn't need a study to tell me it is good for me. There is a new study that says spending time outside will decrease hormone levels. They refer to it as a nature pill and say sitting, walking or doing some type of physical activity in nature or outside will have tremendous positive effects on health. According to the study, doing this could decrease heart disease, chronic stress, weight, blood pressure and more.

(Sarcasm Alert)

“It appears you have chronic stress and heart disease.”
“Do you prescribe I spend time outside in nature to help decrease the effects?”
“Are you nuts? I'm a physician. I have an obligation to pharmaceutical companies. I'm prescribing expensive medication. If you believe running around in the woods will help your health I say it is okay.”
“There was a study done about it.”
“Unless it was done by the pharmaceutical industry and shows them doing positive things for people, I've never heard of it.”
“Oh.”

Below are some excerpts from the story with my valuable insights in italics.

The study, completed by University of Michigan researchers, MaryCarol Hunter, Brenda Gillespie and Sophie Yu-Pu Chen...Hunter said the study was developed for health care practitioners to utilize when giving patients a "nature-pill prescription”...About 44 people from Ann Arbor participated in an eight-week summer study in June 2014 and had a nature experience three times a week.


I'm not a scientist. I do wonder what can actually be proven in a study concerning the health of all people that only uses 44 people. Three times a week, they spent time outside during an eight-week period. This study was done during the summer in Michigan. I'm sure the results would be different if they tried to conduct this type of research during the winter months in Michigan.

“How is the study going?”
“Not good.”
“Why?”
“It's winter. We keep telling our study participants to go outside and see if it is good for their health.”
“What happens?”
They keep refusing to leave the warm building and start using very creative expletives when we talk about this being part of the study.”
“What are you going to do?”
“We're going to start working on a new study that shows using creative expletives against people who want you to leave a warm building and into the bitter cold outside is good for your health.”
“Oh.”

Hunter said the participants were allowed to decide what they did and where they went to be in tune with nature. She, Chen and Gillespie concluded 20 minutes because statistics showed a graduate decrease in stress. But they also noticed a dramatic decrease in stress after an additional 10 minutes.
"Thirty minutes is the ideal time for the greatest stress reduction. But 20 minutes is sufficient," she said.


I've spent quite a bit of time in nature. I can tell you it can be a very relaxing experience. It's not a place where only happy experiences can occur. I'm sure the effects on the health of participants would be different if they were eating wild berries and looked over to see a large black bear near them. Spending time enjoying nature requires people to be at peace with snakes, spiders as well as poison ivy, ticks and more.

“I like being in nature. I feel so relaxed.”
“Oh good, guess I don't have to mention you sat in a patch of poison ivy.”
“Oh, no.”
I won't mention the ticks you will have to pick off your arm.”
“Oh, no.”
“When you go back to the research building, try to avoid the snakes I saw and the spiders.”
“I am now feeling so stressed. I doubt I'll have any health benefits from being in nature.”
“You still have one option left to improve your health.”
“What?”
“You can use creative expletives against the study researchers.”
“Then I anticipate feeling very healthy by the end of the study.”


The biggest challenge for people is commitment, Hunter said and choosing to stop what they're doing to enjoy the outdoors for 20 minutes a day. But Hunter said any time away from busy schedules and cellphones can improve an individual's health.rt with five minutes and see where it takes you," she said.

Five minutes in nature? That is a time commitment that would involve a person opening a door, going through it, turning around and going back inside. That is not even enough time to get a decent mosquito bite. The more time you spend in nature the better it becomes. I say walk, explore and enjoy nature. It's not as much fun as using creative expletives with study researchers, but it's still good for your health.

Here is a link to the story.


Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)