Riding the Green Wave to Better Health and Well-being

Sitting alone in my ‘tardis’ waiting for my cue that the show was about to begin, I reflected how the windowless box, full of computer screens, a desk-top control board of sliding knobs and twistable buttons, headphones and microphone could not have been further way from the topic I was about to talk about on ABC radio: The health benefits of being immersed in nature.

Nature can be wonderful, awe inspiring and a joy, but also malevolent and sometimes life-threatening.

So, what are the benefits and are they as important as they are hyped up to be?

Unequivocally, the answer is yes, connecting with nature has profound positive effects on our health and wellbeing. It provides significant mental health benefits alleviating the symptoms of anxiety and depression. It’s also important for physical health, reducing your risk of heart disease, strengthening your immune system, elevating mood, boosting creativity and cognition and enhancing social connection.

 

 

A vital conversation for our time.

The invitation to spend almost an hour in conversation with the host Nic Healey on the Nightlife Program with my friend and lifestyle medicine practitioner colleague Di Westaway, OAM Founder and CEO of Coastrek was pure delight, occurring at the tail end of enjoying the summer break where there had been time for once to take time off from work, to head to the beach, go camping with the kids or simply chill out and do fun things.

Our busy lives and packed schedules have resulted in a change in our lifestyle habits. We stay indoors more, we’re more sedentary and we often spend too many hours glued to a computer screen.

It’s not that we don’t enjoy getting out for a walk in the park or swim in the ocean, rather it’s having the opportunity (as in time) to do that. But we’re not always aware how this nature deficit is creating health problems.

Professor Astell-Burt from the University of Sydney talks about the lonelygenic environment we live in that makes us miserable, at higher risk of mental and physical illness and shorter lives.

Creating liveable cities requires careful and creative planning to provide green corridors, parks, botanical gardens and waterways that have been shown by the science to enhance well-being. Tree canopy is essential for shade, clean air, oxygen and cooler temperatures as you’ll have witnessed on those days where it’s 40 degrees centigrade, you’re surrounded by concrete and not a skerrick of green anywhere in sight.

 

The science is credible. 

There is now a large body of research (and growing) that has confirmed a wide range of health benefits from spending time in a green or blue space. Much of the early work was observational and on small population samples. Now many more meta-analyses have been conducted on larger cohorts. However it is acknowledged that more needs to be done to understand how nature exerts its positive effects so that broader implementation strategies can be developed at scale.

What we don’t know is which type of nature connection is best, or if there is a best. Should the focus be on increasing tree canopy in cities and the provision of grassy open areas with BBQ facilities or creating pockets of woodland with higher levels of biodiversity?

Not everyone shares the same affinity for nature or the same form. Are you drawn to the ocean with a love for swimming in the sea, coastal walks or sailing a boat or are you someone who loves going bush, the more remote the better, with just spinifex and red dirt as far as the eye can see?

What counts is:

• Having the awareness of what type of nature, you like the most.
• Having that form of nature readily accessible to you.

 

The role of nature for mental health. 

During the program I was asked when I had first realised that nature provided real observable benefits.

Having looked after many patients over the years with anxiety and depression as a GP, I had long recognised that medication, counselling and psychological or psychiatric intervention wasn’t always the answer, or enough. What some patients shared with me was how much better they felt after they had been out for a walk, spent time in their garden or sat on the beach listening to the waves crashing on the shore.

It was my own experience of living with high-functioning anxiety, going through several episodes of major depression and burning out as a GP that highlighted my insight that it was getting out into some local bushland where I could sit or walk, immersed in the natural beauty of the surrounding trees and hearing birdsong that always made me feel better.

It transformed my choices around how I spend time each day. Before, my entire focus was on my work, looking after others. There was no space or time for my own needs.

Now, my morning ritual after making myself a cuppa in the morning is to step outside for a few minutes, to notice the trees, the clouds, the birds and the other sounds in the environment. I then love to plunge into the backyard pool – this is guaranteed to wake me up, but it also sets me up for a good day.

Over time I’ve added in more outside activities. I walk once or twice a week with a small group of walking buddies, kayak on the river and whenever I’m outside I choose to take note of what I can see, hear, smell, touch and tase in my external environment.

It’s how I manage my mental well-being. It keeps me grounded, calm and happy and I don’t know of anything else that can achieve that (other than spending time with my husband, family and friends).

Today, GPs are encouraged to consider a green or exercise prescription (best taken together!) for mild depression rather than prescribing an anti-depressant as first-line. Why? Because it’s been shown to be as effective as the medication with the added bonus that getting outside and walking gets you fitter, lowers blood pressure and stress levels and is highly enjoyable. It’s so much easier to keep doing something you enjoy.

 

The special joy of social walking in nature.

As the founder and CEO of Coastrek™, Di Westaway OAM has witnessed first-hand the impact of social walking on mental well-being in a special cohort. As part of her Masters in Lifestyle Medicine, she participated in a study that sought to evaluate a 12-week nature walking program with social mechanisms to enhance engagement.

This is Coastrek™ in action. Each year, a series of coastal walks for women are held in different locations around Australia to raise funds for charity. Before undertaking the walk, each participant is encouraged to undergo 12 weeks of training to increase fitness and walking endurance and to minimise the risk of injury or worse still, not completing the walk.

For the study, participants were asked to complete the Personal Well-being Index before starting the training program, after completing the walk and 3 months later. The results showed that training in nature was the special sauce to improving well-being by an additional 5.1% and doubling the length of the duration of the benefits by up to 12 months.

Moreover, the economic benefits and savings to the healthcare system of the program was calculated to be $4k per participant and c$20million per year.

Quite an extraordinary result for better mental health achieved from something as simple (and free!) as walking in nature with a group of buddies.

Which goes a long way to explain why I’ve now walked the Margaret River Coastrek event three times. It’s all about the camaraderie of your team-mates, getting out and committing to the training walks, feeling fitter, getting fitter, struggling together to finish the course, while revelling in the magnificent coastline watching humpback whales cavorting in the sea and celebrating completing a job well done for a worthy cause.

Nature + Friends + Purpose = Happiness and appreciation for the wonderful world in which we live.

 

Carrying on the conversation.

Our hour live on air went in a flash.
There was so much more we could have talked about. We’ll have to leave that until next time.
I’m deeply appreciative of the opportunity by ABC radio and the nightlife program to have this conversation. Nic Healey was a wonderful host who kept the conversation flowing with well-placed questions, and it’s always a delight to be in the same room (though this time it was separate tardises in different cities) with the wonderful Di Westaway OAM.

For better health and well-being, nature immersion matters.

How do you spend time with nature to maintain your mental well-being?

 I’d love to hear your thoughts.