Astrological Musings

Astrological Musings

Why we need to get out more

posted by Lynn Hayes | 7:24am Thursday April 23, 2009

fern-leaved beech.jpgPhoto from Tony Howell.
From an article on Livescience.com
:

In our increasingly urbanized world, it turns out that a little green can go a long way toward improving our health, not just that of the planet. 

That could mean something as simple as a walk in the park or just a tree viewed through a window. It’s not necessarily the exercise that is the key. It’s the refreshing contact with nature and its uncomplicated demands on us. 

Here is how it works: Modern life — commuting, computing, paying taxes — can place a burden on our brains and bodies. In recent years, scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Landscape and Human Health Laboratory and elsewhere have compiled evidence that suggests that a connection to nature is vital to our psychological and physical health because it helps recharge our brains so that we’re better able to cope with the stresses in life. 

I live on five acres of land in a semi-rural area, but I still get most of my exercise at the gym or in my house, rather than spending time outdoors working with the land.  Now the Wii gives you the opportunity to play all of your outdoor sports at home, using computerized equipment.  We already have seen that technology is changing the human brain, and I would think that the less we interact with the natural world the more we facilitate that alteration.  

In a 2001 study detailed in the journal Environment and Behavior, Kuo and her
colleagues surveyed parents of children aged 7 to 12 who had been diagnosed with
an Attention
Deficit Disorder. They asked the parents to rate activities that seemed to
alleviate their child’s symptoms and which seemed to aggravate them.

They found the children functioned better after a “green” activity (i.e. one
that likely took place in a natural setting, such as fishing or soccer) than a
“non-green” one (such as watching TV or playing video games).

Kuo and her colleagues think the improvement stems from nature’s ability to
capture our attention involuntarily, giving the hard-working, overtaxed part of
our brain used to voluntarily focus our attention on more demanding tasks a
break, essentially allowing it to recharge

Maybe I’ll go out and take a long walk today and make my dog AND my brain very happy. :)



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Comments read comments(3)
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Susan Morgan

posted April 23, 2009 at 4:06 pm


Lynn,
Thanks for such a though provoking post.
Maybe that explains my pure joy in gardening… there’s something about working with the earth that’s so satisfying. I always come away from my time in the garden feeling more peaceful and connected.
Funny how that works…
Sue



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Jill

posted April 26, 2009 at 10:08 am


This is why even though my job’s move another five miles out in the fall will add 15 minutes each way to my drive, I’m happy about it. We will be in a “corporate campus” setting with trees so that my lunchtime walks can take place where there’s something green instead of doing loops around the parking lot of a chain hotel, which is what I’m stuck with now.
(Heh: Word verification is “debtfn” –debt fan? debt finished?



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timm

posted June 3, 2009 at 7:44 am


Yoga is a really cool teaching. I always was rather skeptical about it, but many times came across the opinion, that it is extremely useful for physical and emotional health. I decided to learn more about it and found this ebook http://www.ebook-search-queen.com/ebook/yoga/yoga+for+health.all.html . Having read it I decided to get close acquaintance with yoga – I’m engaged in it for half a year already and feel much better in all meanings!



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