To add to Nature and Wellbeing section of website

Research has shown that our surrounding environment can increase or decrease our stress levels and have a real impact on our bodies. The stress we feel when in an unpleasant environment can really have a negative impact on us, through increasing our heart rate and blood pressure, aching muscles from tensing, teeth grinding, headaches and suppressing our immune systems.

When we get back to nature and place ourselves in a pleasant environment, it has the opposite affect and can have real benefits to our wellbeing, through reducing stress and promoting healing.

Spending time in nature or even looking at photographs of nature, can help reduce stress and anger and promote a sense of calm throughout the body. This can be beneficial to our mental health and also our physical health by reducing the production of stress hormones we have constantly pumping around us when we feel in a stressed state. This can be extremely exhausting! We are too overly stressed and stimulated in today’s fast paced world, with most of us very nature deprived and taking little time to give ourselves a much deserved rest. Getting back to our wild roots, really does our bodies and minds a favor. This could be walking and looking at your local beauty spots, creating your own nature space in your garden or home or watching nature through your window.

Public Health Wales have developed an evidence based set of actions that promote wellbeing called, ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing. They are based on activities people can do in their daily lives to improve how they feel, and these are very much linked to our natural world.

Five Ways to Wellbeing

Connect: We are very social animals so connecting with others is important for wellbeing. This has been challenging in recent times surrounding the pandemic but we have still been reaching out to one another through socially distanced walks, online workshops and discussions. Nature also provides a way for people who feel isolated to feel connected and brings about more positive emotions.

Be Active: We have never been so active in our local green spaces, than in the past 12 months, and it has been proven that taking part in physical activity in outdoor environments has a greater effect on both physical and mental wellbeing. We can all connect and be active in nature through lots of activities such as walking, running or cycling.

Take Notice: Nature is beautiful and there is always something to see. We can just sit and admire all the beauty around us or paint, draw or photograph what we see, to enjoy again later. It is surprising what we can see when we really take notice.

Keep Learning: There is always something to learn about the world around us. Learn to identify trees, plants, species, how to relax in nature, mindfulness, photography… the list is endless!

Give: Take part or organize something nature based. We can share our love of nature with others through giving back to the community. We can arrange a litter pick walk/jog or other outdoor activities.

We would really love to hear how nature has had a positive impact on your health and wellbeing?

Send us your stories, so we can add them to our page to help inspire others with ideas of how they can enjoy nature and heritage in their local area.