Just 20 minutes in nature can decrease stress hormones
| Apr 8, 2019, 13:18 IST
Have you had those times when you're really worked up and can't think of a break? You'd really want to take a nap but in turn you only get more stress about something that's been on your mind since quite sometime now. Maybe it's work, maybe it's something personal. But you tend to let it linger on your mind more often than giving it a break every now and then. And since you can't think of sleeping it off, you can simply spend some time in the nature and you're good to go. That's true. Being in nature for about 20 minutes can reduce stress hormones, says a new research which was published in the Frontiers in Psychology journal.
Says the lead author Dr. MaryCarol Hunter, an associate professor at the University of Michigan, “We know that spending time in nature reduces stress, but until now it was unclear how much is enough, how often to do it, or even what kind of nature experience will benefit us.” The author further suggested, “Our study shows that for the greatest payoff, in terms of efficiently lowering levels of the stress hormone cortisol, you should spend 20 to 30 minutes sitting or walking in a place that provides you with a sense of nature.”
People who are health care practitioners can use this practice as a guide to prescribe nature pills to their patients. they can be a low-cost solution to reduce negative health issues which can be a cause of indoor lifestyle or the growing urbanization.
This findings thus showed that just a 20 minute nature exploration did enough to reduce cortisol levels. And on spending a little more time sitting or walking in nature dropped down the cortisol levels to great extent. Not just that, but additional de-stressing benefits also started showing up, little by little.
Hunter continued to say, “Health care practitioners can use our results as an evidence-based rule of thumb on what to put in a nature-pill prescription. It provides the first estimates of how nature experiences impact stress levels in the context of normal daily life. It breaks new ground by addressing some of the complexities of measuring an effective nature dose.”
Says the lead author Dr. MaryCarol Hunter, an associate professor at the University of Michigan, “We know that spending time in nature reduces stress, but until now it was unclear how much is enough, how often to do it, or even what kind of nature experience will benefit us.” The author further suggested, “Our study shows that for the greatest payoff, in terms of efficiently lowering levels of the stress hormone cortisol, you should spend 20 to 30 minutes sitting or walking in a place that provides you with a sense of nature.”
People who are health care practitioners can use this practice as a guide to prescribe nature pills to their patients. they can be a low-cost solution to reduce negative health issues which can be a cause of indoor lifestyle or the growing urbanization.
This findings thus showed that just a 20 minute nature exploration did enough to reduce cortisol levels. And on spending a little more time sitting or walking in nature dropped down the cortisol levels to great extent. Not just that, but additional de-stressing benefits also started showing up, little by little.
Hunter continued to say, “Health care practitioners can use our results as an evidence-based rule of thumb on what to put in a nature-pill prescription. It provides the first estimates of how nature experiences impact stress levels in the context of normal daily life. It breaks new ground by addressing some of the complexities of measuring an effective nature dose.”