Walking in nature and it’s benefits
My sanctuary is the beach and I’m very lucky to live a few minutes from some of the best beaches in Donegal. I know the benefits of getting out for a walk in the evening, and I know it will always make me feel better. But at the moment I’m finding it nearly impossible to motivate myself to get out there. I make every excuse. I tell myself I’ll do it tomorrow or that I’m too tired. I think of how long the beach is and try to calculate how many steps I need to take to reach the other side of it. I even try to convince myself that sitting in front of the TV will be just as beneficial in helping me switch off after a day at work. The truth is that I want to curl up on the sofa and watch mindless reality TV and not have to engage my brain. The last thing I feel like doing is going for a walk.
From past experience I know walking in nature makes me feel better. I began walking in nature a few years ago. I had just moved from Dublin back to the small rural village where I grew up in Donegal. I was struggling with my mental health and no matter what I tried I just couldn’t block the feeling of absolute despair that I felt in every cell of my body, each minute of every day.
Living on the coast I had the benefit of being surrounded by beautiful beaches, rugged coastline, and deep forests. But because of the deep depression I was in, and the copious amounts of medication I was prescribed, I was oblivious to all this beauty that surrounded me.
Moving home was challenging and I found it difficult to motivate myself to do anything. One morning I came across an article in a newspaper on something called Green Exercise. It was the first time I had heard of the term. The article spoke about the benefits of exercising outdoors in nature and the health benefits of it. I read that exercising in nature was more beneficial for your mental health than in a gym. The more I read about the benefits of eco-therapy and green exercise the more interested I became. The research told me that it helped with a boosted immune system, reduced blood pressure, reduced stress, reduced anxiety, improved mood and improved sleep. It all sounded too good to be true, but the evidence was there.
It was all well and good knowing the benefits of something but finding the motivation to put something into action was another idea completely. But I was at rock bottom and knew I had to try it. I mean, it couldn’t possibly make me feel any worse. Although I was determined to give it a go, finding the motivation to get out and walk was a different story altogether. The medication I was taking made me extremely tired and all I wanted to do was sleep. I was also using sleep to try to escape from the negative thoughts in my head. It took all my energy to drag myself out of bed each day and whatever energy I had left I used to count down the hours until I could retreat back to bed.
I started off slow by walking for 15 minutes twice a week. I hated every minute of it at first, but I persevered. I started walking on the local beach. The angrier the waves, the better I felt. Their ferocious anger seemed to match the anger I felt inside and had been trying so hard to suppress. But on the beach, I didn’t have to hide anything. I could be angry, sad, frustrated, or whatever I wanted to be. I didn’t have to pretend.
After a month, I was walking for 20 minutes, three times a week. I hadn’t noticed any change in my mood, but I knew that it wasn’t making it any worse and that was something.
One day I decided to walk in a local forest. It had a different energy than walking on the beach and immediately I noticed how calm it made me feel. There was something special about being surrounded by trees that helped calm me. Through my research, I discovered that in Japan, in a bid to tackle stress-related disorders, they recommend that people spend time in forests. They call it forest bathing or Shinrin- yoko which translates to ‘taking in the forest’. Millions of Japanese now take part in Shinrin-yoko each year.
Substantial scientific evidence shows that spending time in nature is good for the mind and body. When you combine exercise with time in nature, research by the University of Essex shows us that it’s more beneficial than exercising in a gym or inside. One interesting study I read tested the effects of a weekly dose of oceans, forests or other natural environments, on patients suffering from depression. It found a 69% increase in mental wellbeing in just three months.
But fast forward to now, and I’ve fallen out of the habit of walking. But recently I’ve been trying to get back into it. I know the scientific benefits of walking in nature, and I know the benefits firsthand. But despite all this knowledge I’m still struggling to motivate myself to get back into it.
I know the scientific benefits of walking in nature, and I also know that I personally have felt those benefits. But knowledge doesn’t always mean action!
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So, I’m trying a whole new approach. Now, when I’d rather stay sitting in front of the TV and have no motivation to go for a walk, I remind myself that I don’t have to walk the whole beach. I don’t even have to work up a sweat. I start by jumping in the car, driving to the beach, and looking out at the nature in front of me. I then walk down to the sea and if I don’t want to go any further, that’s perfectly OK.
I’ve found that the hardest part is getting there even though I might not choose to walk the whole beach, I will commit to jumping in the car and driving to it. Then I will commit to walking down to the sea’s edge. Anything else is a bonus.
I’ve also found taking pictures of my walks on my phone helps motivate me. I use them to remind myself of how good I feel when I’m walking beside the sea. They remind me how good I feel when I see how happy my dog is when I make the effort to take her to the beach. They also remind me of the great sleep I have after taking in the sea air, the sense of satisfaction I feel from putting my mind to something and seeing it through.
This approach has helped me feel less pressure around exercise and I feel like a failure when I don’t walk. I’ve found with this attitude I end up walking more often than not. When I don’t walk, I simply tell myself that I will try again tomorrow. And you know what?
That’s perfectly OK…
- Knowledge Doesn’t Always Mean ActionI know the scientific benefits of walking in nature, and I also know that I personally have felt those benefits. But knowledge doesn’t always mean action!
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