We all know that being outside makes us feel better. Who doesn’t like taking a walk on a nice sunny day, or listening to the gentle sounds of a stream flowing through a secluded forest? These experiences help us feel more alive.
As new research is showing, being in Nature also helps us feel happier and more connected to the world around us. It also helps us feel more confident and accepting of ourselves and others. And it can even help us feel that our life has more purpose!
This study was a meta-analysis (meaning it combined the results of many smaller studies) that looked at almost 5,000 people’s relationships between their own sense of “Nature Connectedness” (i.e. how strong is their personal relationship to the natural world) and different types of happiness. People that research happiness tend to look at two different aspects:
Hedonic Happiness (the “That Feels Good” principle. For example, taking a sip of your favorite beverage)
Eudaimonic Happiness (the “That Feels Right” principle. For example, watching your child take their first steps)
Previous studies show that while both types of happiness are beneficial, it is really Eudaimonic Happiness that connects how we feel emotionally with other aspects of health like longevity and prevention of diseases like heart disease.
Fortunately, this study showed that both of these types of happiness were greater for people that had higher levels of connection to Nature. In particular, higher levels of Nature Connectedness were most associated with increased self-assessed personal growth, sense of vitality, and sense of meaning or purpose in Life.
There are many complicated ways how connection to Nature can increase all of these factors, and I’ll explore these in future writings. For now the main thing to understand is that Nature Connectedness is an important part of our mental well-being (and as other studies have shown, an important part of our physical well-being as well.)
The single best way to improve your Nature Connectedness is to spend time connected to Nature (sounds pretty obvious, doesn’t it?). This is especially important for younger children, whose world is becoming increasingly distanced from Nature because of technology and other factors.
There are many ways to build up Nature Connectedness, and it doesn’t really matter which ones you choose. Some simple things to do include:
Go for a walk in your favorite Nature place (a park, local woods, the beach, etc…)
Join a local nature center
Plant a garden
Grow some indoor houseplants
Put pictures of beautiful nature scenes up on your wall (or computer’s screen-saver/wall-paper).
Cohabitate with animals (get some pets).
So get out in Nature and feel that connection. You will be happier and healthier for it.
Citations:
1. Pritchard A, Richardson M, Sheffield D, McEwan K. The Relationship Between Nature Connectedness and Eudaimonic Well-Being: A Meta-analysis. J Happiness Stud. 2019. doi:10.1007/s10902-019-00118-6
2. Capaldi CA, Passmore H-A, Ishii R, et al. Engaging with Natural Beauty May Be Related to Well-Being Because It Connects People to Nature: Evidence from Three Cultures. Ecopsychology. 2017;9(4):eco.2017.0008. doi:10.1089/eco.2017.0008
3. Ryff CD. Psychological well-being revisited: Advances in the science and practice of eudaimonia. Psychother Psychosom. 2013;83(1):10-28. doi:10.1159/000353263
4. Mayer FS, Frantz CM, Bruehlman-Senecal E, Dolliver K. Why Is Nature Beneficial? The role of Connectedness to nature. Environ Behav. 2009;41(5):607-643. doi:10.1177/0013916508319745
5. Dean JH, Shanahan DF, Bush R, et al. Is nature relatedness associated with better mental and physical health? Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15(7):9-11. doi:10.3390/ijerph15071371