Heal Thyself by Going Outside
Thanks, Brother Curt for the info on exercise. Here is more on the importance of exercising outside in the fresh air and sunshine.
It's no wonder that fitness resolutions tend to fizzle in February. Americans vow to get in shape at the worst possible time of the year, just when miserable weather forces us indoors. Yes we have health clubs. And winter kicks off the mall-walking season. But studies are finding that we need more than just physical exercise to stay healthy. We need the emotional healing benefits of green exercise.
Also known as eco-therapy, green exercise simply means doing something, almost anything, outside. Along with the activity you also get substantial mental-health benefits--reduced stress, depression and anger and enhanced mood and self-esteem--simply by seeking out the natural world, according to growing evidence from researchers in the U.S., Scandinavia and Britain.
Indeed, in color therapy, green balances the nervous system and is believed to have a calming, soothing effect. Reconnecting with the environment could be as simple as walking outside amid green trees and flowers, etc. Studies have even shown that prisoners and hospital patients reported better health when living in rooms that face farmland and trees rather than brick walls.
Scenery also made a difference for another group of shutins: treadmill runners, according to researchers at the University of Essex in Britain. They found that runners who zoned out on idyllic rural views during a 20-minute run had the most substantial drop in blood pressure and the most improved psychological outcomes. The runners forced to look at gritty city environments, or "urban unpleasant" views, fared the worst. Even those who had "no view" on the treadmill reported better outcomes than the ones looking at dreary urban scenes.
Green exercise could also mean sitting in a park, biking to work, walking, gardening, etc. The stress-reduction benefits of healing gardens in hospitals (which we could now call "green care") date to the Middle Ages. And some say our modern hospitals have abandoned the healing properties that the connection to nature can bring.
The biggest challenge is redesigning cities to get people to walk more during normal working days, according to Jules Pretty, a professor of environment and society at the University of Essex. "Fifty years ago, an average adult ran the equivalent of a marathon a week more than an average adult does today--and that was not running, just walking, cycling, being more active in the home," said Pretty. "No wonder obesity is such a problem." --Riverside, Calif. Press-Enterprise, February 15, 2008.
Comment: Our own Ellen White has much information on this important subject:
* "Exercise in the open air should be prescribed as a life-giving necessity." Ministry of Healing, p. 265.
* "Nature is God's physician. The pure air, the glad sunshine, the beautiful flowers and trees, the orchards and vineyards, and oudoor exercise amid these surroundings, are health-giving--the elixir of life." Counsels on Health, p. 170.
* "The whole system needs the invigorating influence of exercise in the open air." Ibid. p. 193.
* "Those who are feeble and indolent should not yield to their inclination to be inactive, thus depriving themselves of air and sunlight, but should practice exercising out of doors in walking or working in the garden. " Ibid. p. 200.
Outdoor exercise is strong medicine; be sure you get your share!
Suzanne