Just got back from some family time outside, a beautiful mix of lakeside and a gorgeous park filled with new fresh green trees. We came back feeling relaxed and refreshed from an intense week of mad schedules. How easy was that?
How often do we get "free" remedies?
I remember as a child my respected science teacher said the colour green is very easy and soothing for human eyes because of how light spectrum reaches our eyes. Green lies in the middle of visible spectrum where human eye detects best. It's as easy as having a green plant at home you can just look up from some intense reading, would help soothing eyes and mind within seconds. WOW, I thought that's simply magic.
I train daily with clients indoors and outdoors. Our conversations aren't limited to only about getting into physical activities, but rather the overall well being in mental, physical, dietary levels. All we need is only 20 minutes a day, being out catching some fresh air and being surrounded by green plantations is enough to bring our stress level way down. Bonus is to get in some moderate-intensity exercises but it's certainly not a must to reap the benefits.
Everything starts with your mind, your mental well-being. Your fitness health goals might be about physical training, or dietary change. If your mind is not at the right place, NONE of those juicy goals will turn into reality.
The ease to detect green alone make "green" the colour to calm nerves, which reduces cortisol level, in turn reduces blood pressure, hypertension, Type II diabetes, and obesity due to cortisol's direct link to visceral fat (belly fat!). The effect of spending a little time a day just being outside with green plantation is monumental. The magnitude of the physical and mental health pathway that single action serves is tremendous. Research even shows that it will help us live longer in the long run.
Having worked with many physicians in the past, and particularly during last week being "Mental Awareness week", many have told me they would encourage patients to get outdoors and take advantage of this "free medicine". The specificity that comes with framing these recommendations as prescriptions.
We are in the middle of pandemic, over a year of covid lockdown, "work-from-home" measures, fear of uncertainty has kept us become very much "indoor" animals. It's so easy to become complacent and curl up at home daily because it is easy and comfortable, and "safe". To truly:
take care of yourself and your family's sanity,
to maintain a harmonious relationship in the household,
to improve moods,
to release all the mental tension, to mind your mental wellness level,
GET OUTSIDE. Surround yourself with green trees and breathe in that fresh oxygen that just came out of photosynthesis. Soak in nature's best remedy and medicine it can offer! It's all about making that positive choice to improve your health. :)
