Wellbeing benefits of nature connection

I’ve been running nature connection for wellbeing sessions in a woodland for nearly 5 years now and the feedback from participants indicates that when we connect with nature it simply just makes them feel good. Furthermore, the positive feelings and relaxation stay around for quite a while after the session has ended. Why is that? Let’s consider, in brief, some of the science.

Attention Restoration Theory

Proposed by Steven and Rachel Kaplan in 1989, this theory focuses on directed and involuntary attention. Directed attention requires mental effort and concentration where the individual has to focus hard in order to process information (which is what we generally do when we’re working). Too much time spent using directed attention is tiring and  can be the cause of mental fatigue. In contrast, involuntary attention  require little effort (these are when we’re engaged with simple, repetitive tasks) and can actually refresh and restore ability for tasks requiring directed attention. Gentle weeding or bramble snipping are good examples of how we engage involuntary attention, or soft attention, in our wellbeing with nature sessions. The mental relaxation that occurs through engaging with soft focus activities helps relax the mind and restore brain capacity for more complex tasks.

The Endorphin effect

It is argued that connecting with nature makes humans feel good due to a shared substance and evolutional commonality with everything else in the world,  When we allow ourselves to relax and luxuriate in the beauty of the natural world we connect with the a primeval essence and endorphins are released, flooding us with a feel-good effect. The realisation of the endorphin effect through nature connection has even attracted the label of a natural spirituality; a religious type of experience without any accompanying labelling.

One person’s cause of stress is not going to be the same for someone else, but feeling overwhelmed and demotivated are common signals indicating that time-out might be of considerable benefit to your wellbeing.

Now, by time-out I don’t mean a shopping trip, lunch with friends, or throwing yourself into training for an endurance race. I mean time-out to still the mind and the body, to allow the two to properly connect so that you can begin to understand how both are linked when it comes to experiencing stress.

Recognising not just ‘why’ in relation to stress, but alternative ways to deal with it, is key to be able to make small changes that can benefit your physical and mental health and wellbeing.

I recently shared a series of photos on Facebook of autumnal images taken while out on a walk, with a caption that began “While walking around a local lake, taking time to notice…”

I don’t have legions of ‘friends’ on Facebook but the number of ‘Likes’ that post received indicated that it really spoke to people who identified a need within them for ‘comfort’ through connection with nature.

The Biophilia hypothesis,  proposed by Edward Wilson in 1984 suggests that there is an inbuilt pull that humans feel towards nature, because in evolutionary terms we have only recently moved away from nature chasing benefits urbanisation promised to provide.

Without wanting to make this a long post, outlining the history, cause and effect of mankind’s move away from the natural world, suffice to say that Biophilia has been widely written about by other authors since Wilson and there are many studies that appear to support the hypothesis.