How a few minutes with Nature can boost your happiness

Even the most PollyAnnaish of us (yeah, me) can find the grey days and cold of November a drain on our well-being.

However, research from Finland (where winters are VERY dark and cold) and the US suggests that, even if we don't live near a spectacular mountain range or rolling green fields, access to nature via our urban parks, woods and nature reserves like Railway Fields can boost our mental health. Even 15 minutes of sitting outside in a park was sufficient for people to feel psychologically restored. Walks and longer periods spent in a park or wood had an even greater effect on vitality and people also reported feeling more creative. The Japanese have a word for it, shinrin-yoku or 'forest bathing'.

There is a catch. You do have to put away your devices and pay attention to the sounds and sights of nature. Playing PokemonGo on Ducketts Common won't cut it.

“When people use a phone, what they notice is cut in half"  The idea is to engage our senses and interrupt, even briefly, the steady drip of urban stress.

What if there is no time to go to the park or stroll in the woods? All is not lost. You just have to take a little time to...er...stop and smell the roses or daisies or dahlias or lavender. Literally any natural thing: a bit of herb Robert in the Harringay Passage; moss on a wall in the Gardens; a robin in a Wightman Road front garden; a Ladder street tree in its Autumn colours can have a positive effect on your mood provided you take the time to notice it.

Don't be afraid to snap a picture (you can take your phone out of your pocket now), and take time to think about how it makes you feel. Heck why not post it on Instagram and express your feelings about it?

In Canada, participants in a study that asked them to track encounters with the natural world in the city reported elevated mood, a sense of connection to both nature and other people and, let's not be afraid to use the word, happiness. 

This wasn’t about spending hours outdoors or going for long walks in the wilderness...This is about the tree at a bus stop in the middle of a city and the positive effect that one tree can have on people

As land grabs of messy natural space by developers continue, housing that skimps on outside space gets thrown up, and cash-strapped councils remove trees from streets to avoid maintenance, it should be clear to us from this kind of research that parks, trees, natural spaces, gardens not concrete yards, nature reserves, planters full of flowers, are not nice to haves but essential for a city dweller's mental well-being. 

As the poet puts it,

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare

P.S. If you want to read a beautiful true story of how Nature literally saved a homeless addict's life, click here