Outdoor sports or even casual loitering has become underrated in today’s fast moving, tech world. We are working from home, shopping from home, studying from home, and even meeting and greeting our loved ones from home.
This makes outdoor activities even more important. Here’s why:
Happy Neuro Chemicals Are Released to Uplift Your Mood
Outdoor activity releases the happy hormone known as endorphin. This is essentially the body’s natural morphine and acts as instant pain relief. That is why most people tend to go on long walks or intensive runs to counter distressing news. This spontaneous splurge of endorphins helps relieve stress, uplifts your mood, improves sleep and wards off depression. Plus, running has this never ending list of benefits. Outdoor activities also help release neurotransmitters like serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine – the brain chemicals that play a key role in increasing self-esteem and joy.
Increases Immunity
Outdoor activities like yoga, swimming, walking and running boosts immunity – this has helped several people with eco and aromatherapy. Research have been published in the American Journal of Medicine that has shown a direct correlation between increased white blood cells and regular exercise. People who were apart of these researches reported having lesser bouts of seasonal flu as well as chronic health diseases. Immunologists also believe that exercise boosts immunity by directly increasing blood flow, making all white blood cells easily accessible to all parts of the internal organs and body. Moreover, since stress reduces immunity – exercise decreases stress, simultaneously strengthening the immune system.
Exposure to Sunlight Promotes Better Health
Sunlight has been known to strengthen bones, but with limited exposure and through the proper use of sunscreen. On top of that, our circadian rhythm, that is the body’s biological clock helps release serotonin with increased sun exposure – thus, making us feel good and refreshed in the morning and outdoors. Although intense exposure to sunlight for longer periods causes skin cancer, it has been known to prevent cancers of the prostate gland, colon, pancreas, and ovary. Skin conditions like eczema, acne, and psoriasis are also reduced through sun exposure – that is why phototherapy is used to treat them.
Improves Focus and Helps Delay Gratification
The release of mood uplifting hormones and neurotransmitters is associated with better mental health. And a healthy brain is one that effectively carries out its executive functions like problem-solving, focusing on the task at hand, delaying gratification as well as planning. People feel stuck in a loop and are unable to mitigate the losses they face because of their addiction to bad habits – outdoor activities, for twenty to thirty minutes daily, help overcome these neurotic feelings. Boosting brain function by increasing brain flow helps one get more work done each day!
Outdoor Activities Increase Your Creative Streak
Writing in natural environments has always been a quick solution to overcoming writer’s block. Since outdoor activities tend to increase our interactions with both the biotic and abiotic objects, they tend to fuel our creative streak. That is why most classrooms are also being set up in outdoor environments – to make learning a more rewarding experience. Nature does this by providing fresh air, insightful scenarios, better mental health, and increasing memory as well as brain function. Creativity, just like any other muscle, increases if you flex it more often – and outdoor activities serve as the best stimulus.
They are Beneficial for Your Sight and Sense of Smell
Your eyes are not meant to remain fixated on a screen or a book for extensive hours – it is suggested that taking breaks after twenty minutes of intense activity is beneficial to your sight. In these breaks, one should try focusing on distant objects if they have been using their short-sighted vision or vice versa. This improves sight by relaxing the ciliary muscles that are involved in the refractive and accommodation reflexes that help you focus. Sense of smell is enhanced with the exposure to different aromas – especially if you are involved in an outdoor activity in a field, forest or local park. Pleasant smells like the scent of flowers, mud after rain, pine and even wet grass have been known to help through aromatherapy. It induces a sense of tranquility and alignment with oneself.
In conclusion, inculcating a regular habit of exercise, especially outdoors, is one of the essential pillars of health!