The Benefits of Green Exercise
What is Green Exercise?
We have green cars, green juice, green industries, green buildings, green living and even something called the ‘Green Globe Awards’!...What is green exercise?!
Not it’s not exercise that is good for the environment…or exercise to make someone jealous.
It’s actually exercise done in natural environments.
When we think about ‘exercise’, most people associate exercise with going to the ‘gym’.
That’s where exercise is ‘done’ after all, right?
But what about exercising outside?
We have all been told the benefits of exercise. It can increase your energy levels, help you sleep better, give you a sense of control and increase your confidence.[i]
But over the past couple of decades, research has started to focus on finding out if exercising in nature as the potential for even better health benefits.[ii]
The Benefits
Not only is green exercise a whole lot cheaper to the gym but it also has great physical and psychological benefits.[iii]
When compared to exercising indoors, exercising in nature has been found to generate feelings of positive engagement, greater feelings of revitalisation, reduced tension, decreased anger and depression and increased energy.[iv]
Physically, in a group of patients with Coronary Heart Disease (CAD), walking in a park was found to predict improved blood pressure and heart rate recovery indicating an improvement in the functioning of the autonomic nervous system.[v] Another study found that those who walked in the forest had reduced stress hormones than those who walked in the city.[vi]
Not only is green exercise proposed to restore your mental and physical health, it may also make you ‘smarter’. A study into the effect of nature on cognitive function (out ability to think), found that being in nature improved our cognitive abilities.[vii] It is believed that there are two types of attention.
· Directed attention is when our brain tells us what to pay attention to (known as ‘top-down’) and
· Involuntary attention where attention is captured by important or intriguing (stimuli (known as ‘bottom-up’).
In nature, we tend to use involuntary attention. Whereas in the city, the environment demands our attention dramatically such as as beeping. As the ‘top-down’ process is also responsible for noticing distractions and, it is used more in the city. While, nature is soft and we pay attentions to things that modesty attracts our attention (such as a nice sunrise), allowing our directed-attention mechanisms to have a rest.
One of the more amazing findings was that for improvements in self-esteem and mood, the greatest improvement occurred in the first 5 minutes…yes FIVE MINUTES! This suggests that the effects are almost immediate.[viii]
Additionally, while all green environments showed improvements, the addition of water (such as the beach or a river) or participants in water-based exercise seemed to give an even greater benefits.[ix]
So green exercise improves our mental and physical health as well as improving our ability to think.
But how do we get more green exercise?
Getting in some green exercise.
Here are some suggestions on how you can get in some green exercise and reap the rewards.
Get out during your lunch break.
A lot of offices have nearby parks or gardens within a few minutes walk. Why not grab your lunch and go and walk through the park or along a nearby river. You’ll feel much better and more refreshed than sitting at your desk surfing the web.[x]
Do some gardening.
Get into your yard and get gardening. It will give you some gentle exercise and help you de-stress. If you don’t have a garden, you could look and see if there is a local community garden you can participate in.[xi]
Ditch the gym or yoga studio and try an outdoor class
Combine the benefits of exercise or yoga with being outdoors. Join a group and socialise, too![xii]
Conclusion
So why not get out there and do some green exercise. You’ll feel better for it!
[i] https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/HealthyLiving/exercise-and-mood
[ii] http://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/professional/certified/february-2019/7196/green-exercise-into-the-wilderness
[iii] https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/blog/blogcollectionpage/get-active-outdoors
[iv] Thompson Coon, J., Boddy, K., Stein, K., Whear, R., Barton, J., & Depledge, M. H. (2011). Does participating in physical activity in outdoor natural environments have a greater effect on physical and mental wellbeing than physical activity indoors? A systematic review. Environmental science & technology, 45(5), 1761-1772.
[v] Grazuleviciene, R., Vencloviene, J., Kubilius, R., Grizas, V., Dedele, A., Grazulevicius, T., ... & Gidlow, C. (2015). The effect of park and urban environments on coronary artery disease patients: a randomized trial. BioMed research international, 2015.
[vi] Park, B. J., Tsunetsugu, Y., Kasetani, T., Kagawa, T., & Miyazaki, Y. (2010). The physiological effects of Shinrin-yoku (taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing): evidence from field experiments in 24 forests across Japan. Environmental health and preventive medicine, 15(1), 18.
[vii] Berman, M. G., Jonides, J., & Kaplan, S. (2008). The cognitive benefits of interacting with nature. Psychological science, 19(12), 1207-1212.
[viii] Barton, J., & Pretty, J. (2010). What is the best Addose of nature and green exercise for improving mental health? A multi-study analysis. Environmental science & technology, 44(10), 3947-3955.
[ix] Ibid.
[x] https://www.health.qld.gov.au/news-events/news/green-exercise-outdoors-nature-physical-mental-heatlh.
[xi] Ibid.
[xii] Ibid.