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3 Ways Nature Can Improve Your Well-Being
Research shows how nature can help relieve stress and renew our hope.
Posted August 13, 2021 Reviewed by Ekua Hagan
Key points
- Connecting with nature can relieve stress, improve our health, and restore our hope.
- Savoring—focusing on the beauty of nature—can bring us greater happiness and resilience.
- Practicing gratitude for the beauty of this day can reduce anxiety and promote greater well-being.
Throughout time, nature’s beauty has been a refuge amid life’s struggles and storms, refreshing our spirits, and renewing our hope.
Connect With Nature
Research has shown how connecting with nature can relieve our stress, improve our health, and make us more caring and compassionate (Kaplan, 1995; Weinstein, Przbylski, & Ryan, 2009; Zhang, Piff, Iyer, Koleva, & Keltner, 2014). Renewing our connection with nature can improve our relationships, revealing a sense of oneness beyond what can seem a fragmented and hostile world (Mayer, Frantz, Bruehlman-Senecal, & Doliver, 2009). We can experience these benefits by practicing savoring and gratitude.
Savor Nature’s Beauty
Taking a moment from your busy days to focus on the beauty around you can bring greater resilience and well-being to your life (Hurley & Kwon, 2013; Smith & Hollinger-Smith, 2015). You can focus on nature by looking up at the trees, listening to the songs of birds, enjoying a cooling summer breeze, and pausing to notice the beauty of a rose, a vibrant summer sunset, or the stars sparkling overhead. You can enjoy summer harvests—the taste of a ripe peach or homegrown tomatoes. Psychologists call these small acts of appreciation “savoring.”
How can you savor the beauty of nature today?
Practice Gratitude
Research has shown that a simple gratitude practice can lower our blood pressure, strengthen our immune systems, promote greater happiness and well-being, lower stress and anxiety, reduce the risk of depression, and improve our relationships (Emmons & Stern, 2013). Gratitude can even make us less self-critical and more compassionate toward ourselves (Petrocchi & Couyoumdjian, 2016). You can practice gratitude by pausing at the end of the day to recall three things you’re grateful for—the beauty of this summer day, the time to connect with nature, a special friend, family member, or playful pet. Psychologists recommend writing down what you’re grateful for, keeping a gratitude journal to focus more intentionally on these daily gifts of joy in your life (Emmons & Stern, 2013).
Can you think of three things you’re grateful for today?
Ironically, gratitude and savoring don’t come naturally to most of us. Paying attention to the daily gifts of beauty in our lives requires practice and discipline. Humans have evolved with a negativity bias. We focus our attention on perceived threats to our survival while taking the good things in life for granted (Rozin & Royzman, 2001; Vaish, Grossman, & Woodward, 2008). This tendency can bring us chronic stress, worry, and incessant planning for the future instead of appreciating the present moment.
Yet setting a new intention to connect with nature can help us transcend this negativity bias and bring greater joy and harmony to our lives.
This post is for informational purposes and should not substitute for psychotherapy with a qualified professional.
References
Emmons,R.A.& Stern, R. (2013). Gratitude as a psychotherapeutic intervention. Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, 69 (8), 846-855.
Hurley, D. B., & Kwon, P. (2013). Savoring helps most when you have little: Interaction between savoring the moment and uplifts on positive affect and satisfaction with life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14, 1261-1271.
Kaplan, S. (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrated framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15, 169-182.
Mayer, F.S., Frantz, C. M. P., Bruehlman-Senecal, E., & Doliver, K. (2009). Why is nature beneficial? The role of connectedness in nature. Environment and Behavior, 41, 607-643.
Petrocchi, N. & Couyoumdjian, A. (2016). The impact of gratitude on depression and anxiety: the mediating role of criticizing, attacking, and reassuring the self. Self and Identity, 15(2), 191-205.
Rozin, P., & Royzman, E. B. (2001). Negativity bias, negativity dominance, and contagion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5, 296-320
Smith, J. L., & Hollinger-Smith, L. (2015). Savoring, resilience, and psychological well-being in older adults. Aging & Mental Health, 19, 192-200.
Vaish, A., Grossman, T., & Woodward, A. (2008). Not all emotions are created equal: The negativity bias in social-emotional development. Psychological Bulletin, 134: 383-403.
Weinstein, N., Przybylski, A. K., & Ryan, R. M. (2009). Can nature make us more caring? Effects of immersion in nature on intrinsic aspirations and generosity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1315-1329.
Zhang, J. W., Piff, P. K., Iyer, R., Koleva, S., & Keltner, D. (2014). An occasion for unselfing: Beautiful nature leads to prosociality. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 37, 61-72.
