Working outdoors is good for you. FACT.
The great outdoors IS good for mind, body and soul
Trapping ourselves indoors has created what health experts (namely Richard Louv) call ‘nature deficit disorder’; depression or anxiety resulting from too little time spend outside. Working outdoors can do great things for your health. Reducing stress, lowering blood pressure and improving immune function are among nature’s health benefits. What’s more, incorporating elements of nature into your workday can also give your brain a boost, resulting in increased productivity, focus and creativity.
Harvard physician Eva M. Selhub, co-author of Your Brain on Nature, says “a drop of nature is like a drop of morphine to the brain”, since it “stimulates reward neurons in your brain. It turns off the stress response which means you have lower cortisol levels, lower heart rate and blood pressure and improved immune response.”
Turning off the sensors that are involved in the stress response allows the higher brain centers to be accessed, resulting in increased concentration, improved memory, greater creativity and productivity and reduced mental fatigue.
Working Outdoors keep you active, you exercise while at work
Exercising and working outdoors comes with loads of benefits. Participants in all kinds of studies describe feelings of revitalisation, decreased anger, and increased energy. Other studies found that the outdoors has an overall positive effect on vitality, or your sense of enthusiasm, aliveness, and energy. Simply spending more time outside has been shown to prevent increases in obesity. There are lots and lots of reasons why each activity is good at keeping you fit and healthy.
- Rock Climbing is great for strength, mobility, flexibility and mental health
- Kayaking is great for burning calories, building strength and good mental health
- Mountain Biking is great for fitness and burning calories
Sunshine IS good for you
For years we have been told to cover up in the sun to cut the risk of getting skin cancer, but a little bit of sunshine on your body is good for you.
Studies have shown that a sensible amount of sun reduces your risk of several cancers and other serious ourhealthissues.com/product-category/smoking-cessation/ health conditions, all thanks to vitamin D, which is made by our bodies through the action of the sun’s UVB rays on our skin. We get about 90 to 95 per cent of our vitamin D from the sun.
Sunshine boosts levels of serotonin – the body’s natural happy hormone. That’s why we tend to feel happier and more energetic when the sun shines.
Working in, on or by the ocean is great for health and well being…
Scientists have also looked at census data in England to see how living near a coast affects people’s health. They found that people who lived closer to the coast reported better health.
The researchers also looked at the effect of moving near a coast. Moving closer to the sea “significantly improves people’s well-being; by about a tenth as much as finding a new job. The seaside environment may reduce stress and encourage physical activity,
Lots of people working in the outdoor industry are happy, considerate with a positive outlook on life
The great majority of people working on the outdoor/ adventure industry have made a conscious choice to work within a positive, friendly, uplifting profession. There’s loads of evidence that suggests that simply being around happy people creates a feeling of well being. In the outdoors this creates an upwards spiral; being around happy people makes people happy, being happy causes those around you to be happy, and so on.
So there you have it.
Science says that the working in the outdoor adventure industry will make you happier and healthier.
16 June 2016 by Owen Senior
