Why Nature is Important?

Nature is good for us. There’s plenty of evidence that exposure to nature is good for people’s health, well-being and happiness – with green spaces even promoting prosocial behaviours. Less is known about why nature is good for us. Simply put, nature is good for us because we are part of nature. We are human animals evolved to make sense of the natural world and this embeddedness in the natural world can often be forgotten and overlooked.

Mentally, we can become disconnected from nature because we’re now deeply embedded in a human-made world. Emerging research is showing that knowing and feeling this connection with nature is also good for us, and it helps bring about the wider health benefits of exposure to nature. Knowing your place in nature brings meaning and joy.

Nature performs major miracles for us every day – from giving us great views and helping to prevent floods to regulating the weather and keeping us supplied with clean water, fresh air and plentiful food. Nature helps boost the human immune system, an essential function that protects from all sorts of illnesses and supports the healing process. When you feel relaxed and safe, your body enters a stage of rest and recovery. In this stage, important bodily functions, such as the immune system, are built up and boosted.

As Western society has developed, we have retreated from the Great Outdoors, placing greater importance on technological pursuits and human creations. Mounting scientific evidence reveals that by pushing ourselves away from nature, we not only have distanced ourselves from crisis-level environmental problems, but also have begun to lose contact with a vital mental-health tool. By denying ourselves time in green space, we risk rejecting an essential part of our heritage — a truth that, ironically, we are now able to see more clearly because of the advances in medical technology.

6 Reasons why nature is important to us:

Whether we’re sitting in our backyard or hiking through mountain trails, nature is something special. Spending time in nature can help us learn and grow as people.
Nature doesn’t discriminate; it provides the same benefits to rich and poor, young and old. It doesn’t take much to enjoy nature either. Even a small city park can offer us a chance to relax and escape the hustle and bustle of daily life.
We should all make an effort to appreciate nature and spend time in it whenever we can. Not only is it good for our minds and bodies, but it’s also something we can pass down to future generations. Let’s work together to make sure the future has plenty of green spaces for kids and adults alike.

What Research Says?

Many contemporary researchers have used objective testing to support Ulrich’s pioneering work:

  1. In one study, older adults in a residential care center in Texas engaged in the same mental activities in two contexts — once in a garden setting and again in an indoor classroom. The participants were shown to produce lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol while in the garden.
  2. The presence of plants in a room, particularly flowering plants, can enhance recovery from the stress induced by an emotional video, quickly bringing brain wave activity back to normal, researchers at Kansas State University found.
  3. A research group from Taiwan reported that rural farm scenes are associated with higher alpha-wave activity, particularly in the right part of the brain, which has been linked with creativity. Forest scenes and natural water scenes promote alpha-wave activity and decrease heart rate. Conversely, an increase in muscular tension has been associated with city scenes

Are you getting your daily Nature Dose?

Nature performs major miracles for us every day – from giving us great views and helping to prevent floods to regulating the weather and keeping us supplied with clean water, fresh air and plentiful food. Nature helps boost the human immune system, an essential function that protects from all sorts of illnesses and supports the healing process. When you feel relaxed and safe, your body enters a stage of rest and recovery. In this stage, important bodily functions, such as the immune system, are built up and boosted.
As Western society has developed, we have retreated from the Great Outdoors, placing greater importance on technological pursuits and human creations. Mounting scientific evidence reveals that by pushing ourselves away from nature, we not only have distanced ourselves from crisis-level environmental problems, but also have begun to lose contact with a vital mental-health tool. By denying ourselves time in green space, we risk rejecting an essential part of our heritage — a truth that, ironically, we are now able to see more clearly because of the advances in medical technology.



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