Take a Nature Pill

Nature is nurture. The reduction of stress it provides is well established. Our growing indoor lifestyles dominated by screen viewing is harming us. It’s not how we were designed. Far too many people are constantly glued to their screens, even when they’re walking outside! They’d be hard-pressed to be mindful of, or notice, anything around them. I’m surprised more people don’t have collisions with obvious barriers directly in their line of sight. 

We now have the technology to measure biomarker levels simply from saliva samples. This allows us to gauge how various experiences impact the body’s hormone levels. A revealing study was done over an eight-week period where participants were asked to take a nature pill with a duration of 10 minutes or more, at least three times a week. During the nature experience, they could sit, walk, or do both. But there were a few rules they had to follow to minimize factors known to influence stress: take the nature pill in daylight, without aerobic exercise, and avoid the use of social media, Internet, phone calls, conversations and reading.

Levels of cortisol were measured from before and after saliva samples. The results from the data showed that just a 20-minute nature experience, walking or sitting, was enough to significantly reduce the level of cortisol. If you spent a little more time, 20 to 30 minutes, immersed in the nature experience, the levels of cortisol levels dropped at their greatest rate. After 30 minutes, levels continued to drop, but at a slower rate.⁴³

A nature ‘pill’ can be a great low-cost solution to mitigate the negative mental and physical health impacts stemming from all these electronics and urban living. The only side effects are a feeling of calmness and well-being.

Another study found that jogging outdoors makes people 50% happier than working out in a gym. Remember, there’s no Wi-Fi in the forest, but you will always find a better connection.