Forest Therapy can reduce stress and anxiety symptoms
Forest therapy is a simple enough idea. Find some trees, go for a walk, and by the end, you’ll be feeling less stressed and anxious. Despite its simplicity, the benefits in terms of lowering stress and anxiety symptoms have been proven by scientists!
Read on below to learn about how forest therapy works to lower stress and anxiety symptoms, and how you can easily use forest therapy to feel calmer and happier.
1. It targets your senses
Walking in nature engages our senses much more than being inside or walking in an urban environment. There are greater changes in light and temperature. Sights and sounds are changing, which you don’t get inside. In a forest, what you see, hear and smell is soothing too – think birds, not traffic. The variation in sensory experiences that goes on as you move through nature forces you to tune into what’s happening around you – and that means less focus on the stressful thoughts in your mind, or the feelings of anxiety in your body.
2. Movement
Exercise of any kind boosts our mood in two different ways. Exercise helps lower stress hormones that contribute to feeling overwhelmed and anxious. Exercise also releases endorphins, feel good chemicals that your body produces to block out physical pain. Endorphins can block emotional pain like feeling sad or scared, too. Walking = exercise = part of the reason forest therapy improves stress, depression and anxiety symptoms.
3. You put away your phone
Well, I suppose you don’t have to, but it does make walking a lot harder! Particularly when walking on a natural path. Give yourself the break from technology and free your mind from constant information. The lack of new information provides a respite from feeling stressed and overwhelmed. Plus it gives you a chance to daydream and problem solve. And if you can get a new perspective on something that’s being bugging you, you’ll feel even better. This works because you’ll feel powerful, like you can affect your situation, and this sense of control is the opposite to how we feel when anxious or stressed.
4. Seeing beauty increases feelings of gratitude
Seeing something beautiful tends to invoke feelings of gratitude in you. You can double this feeling if the beauty you experience comes from seeing something a little special in the natural world – a glimpse of a rich, red sunset through the tree tops or the chance to see a kookaburra swoop down and grab a tasty treat from the forest floor. Feeling grateful is a state focussed on what we have, rather than what we lack. This makes it a great antidote to depressive and anxious thinking where you focus on what’s missing, or what you feel you lack.
5. An excuse to connect
Sometimes it’s hard to ring someone up to talk to them about your problems. You end up worrying about seeming weak, needy or a burden and so suffer in silence. But inviting a friend for a walk through the forest is much easier. And once you’re out there, it’s only natural to have a chat about how you’ve both been. A natural scene, combined with movement, gives you plenty of places to look other than directly at your friend, making it easier to talk about problems too.
How to use forest therapy to improve your mood
Find a forest, call a friend if you’d like, and just walk! This is easy way to boost your mood is free and available to almost anyone. If you can’t get to a proper forest, then a tree-filled park will give you some of the same benefits, especially if you time your walk for sunrise or sunset. This is when wildlife is especially active and the changes in light, temperature etc. are most pronounced. The increased sensory stimulation helps you to stay present in the moment and leave stress and anxiety behind.
Do you need more help in reducing stress or anxiety quickly? Click here to read our blog post on how to reduce your stress in one minute or less!
