Explore the Great Outdoors
Spending even a few moments outside each day can significantly improve your physical health by reducing muscle tension, regulating your sleep and improving your work performance. Experiencing the outdoors—specifically, green spaces—can provide some mental health benefits as well, including reduced anxiety and depression symptoms, decreased stress levels and improved overall mood.
It may seem difficult to incorporate fresh air into your daily routine, so here are a few tips to spend more time in the great outdoors:
Find times in your workday to be outside. Instead of eating lunch at your desk during the workweek, consider enjoying this meal outside. You could even take meetings outside. If you are joining meetings virtually, find a quiet place with little background noise. Ultimately, it comes down to finding small ways to incorporate fresh air into each day.
Focus on the quality—not quantity—of your time outdoors. While outside, try to really listen to and look at what’s around you. Are there birds chirping? What color are the flowers? Having an intentional presence outdoors can help you feel more connected to nature and increase the health benefits you receive from being in the fresh air.
Move your workout outside. If you usually run on the treadmill, consider jogging around your neighborhood instead. Additionally, doing bodyweight or free weight exercises in your backyard or at a park can give you the same workout you would get in the gym, but will allow you to spend more time outside.
Find someone to explore with. It can be much easier to start a new habit when you have someone to do it with. As such, consider getting together with a partner or a group of friends to participate in outdoor activities.
Bring nature indoors. Even when you can’t get outside for very long, you can still bring little pieces of the outdoors into your home. Think about purchasing a few house plants to place around your home or starting an indoor herb garden.
This infographic is intended for informational purposes only and is not intended to be exhaustive, nor should any discussion or opinions be construed as professional advice. Readers should contact a health professional for appropriate advice. © 2022 Zywave, Inc. All rights reserved.