Five Reasons To Take The Family Outdoors

1) Escape. Modern life creates chronic stress. This wears down our mental and physical health. Humanity has lived with fresh air, and in touch with the ground and the outdoors for its whole history until the industrial revolution, so we are not adapted to the enclosed and hurried life of the modern urban centers.

2) Health-giving energy. There is mounting modern evidence as well as centuries of experience showing that direct contact with the ground has a healing effect on the body. Modern buildings tend to block or diminish our exposure to the earth's natural magnetic field which is essential for living organisms, and the earth's surface offers a dominance of negative ions which help to counter the accumulation of positive ions in enclosed environments and in our bodies under stress. We feel these beneficial effects of nature when we walk barefoot, whether on a beach, on a dirt path through a forest, or by a waterfall.

3) More color. Color therapy has become popular lately. For most of humanity's time on earth we have had blue sky and lots of green (except in arid and frigid areas which took a long time to populate). In contrast, the mostly gray colors of the city as boring, stressful, and promote tension. Aroma therapy comes into play here too. The smells of indoors are mostly from man-made chemicals that our bodies don't know how to interpret. The smells of outside tend to be familiar, soothing and relaxing at a deep level.

4) Day-night rhythm. Exposure to the sun as it rises and falls reinforces our healthy circadian rhythms and helps coordinate the interdependent functions of our vital organs which need to cooperate for optimum health. Ample evidence today points to the need for alignment with the day-night cycle. Sleep problems are endemic, and studies show that workers on night shifts have an increase in all major forms of chronic health conditions, including cardiovascular issues, diabetes, overweight, cancer, depression and anxiety.

5) Natural stimulation. Being in nature tends to renew the spirit and get us moving again. It is hard to stay still when natural beauty calls us to explore. This is easy to see in children. They get easily bored in a classroom, but if you get them outside, they want to investigate, explore further, ask more questions, and discover more answers and ideas. And when they return to the classroom, it is easier for them to focus and stay alert.

(6) Bonus! There are additional benefits! Sunlight helps the body produce vitamin D, which helps with flexibility and many other functions and has been shown to be low in may people, especially in the winter. Sunlight also can help with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), that is, the winter doldrums. And getting outdoors in the sunlight is great to help newborns avoid the jaundice that can come from being kept indoors.

Nature is the natural antidote for stress. So if your family is feeling extra stress, get everyone to step outside, even just for 10 minutes. Or take a short walk together. You may end up laughing, and finding your tough decisions more manageable.