In an Ambius study of 1,000 UK office workers, almost 40% spend a maximum of just 15 minutes outside, excluding their commute to work. An additional 22% spend a maximum of 30 minutes outside. This is less than prisoners, who require ‘at least one hour of suitable exercise in the open air daily’, according to UN Guidelines.
I’m currently studying a diploma in Shinrin Yoku (Forest Bathing) with the International Society of Nature & Forest Medicine and have recently worked with horses, raw cacao and flower remedies. The inspiration gained from this is helping us and our clients to take a thoughtful planetary centred approach to address the environmental and social issues we face today.
How does nature impact on our creativity?
“Being in nature, or even viewing scenes of nature, reduces anger, fear and stress, therefore increasing pleasant feelings. Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, but it also contributes to your physical wellbeing, reduces blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and the production of stress hormones. It may even reduce mortality, according to scientists such as public health researchers” according to two main phases of sleep (REM and non-REM), work together to help us find unrecognised links between what we already know, they then discover out-of-the-box solutions to challenging problems.
How does nature impact our health?
“Being in nature, or even viewing scenes of nature, reduces anger, fear and stress, therefore increasing pleasant feelings. Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing, reduces blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and the production of stress hormones. It may even reduce mortality, according to scientists such as public health researchers” according to Starmatakis and Mitchell.
Unplugging from technology and stepping outside into nature, even for a few minutes, can help give your mind some much-needed peace and quiet. It seems that nature has the ability to restore our attention, which can lead to improved creativity.
Forest Europe’s film highlights the positive impact and benefits of forests on human health and well-being.
Do you feel like a dose of nature could help re-boot your creativity?
Sometimes we just need to step outside to gain inspiration and perspective. That’s why at thinkpublic we believe in harnessing the power of nature in the way we work with our clients and communities. Whether you’re needing to do some strategic thinking, looking for a new source of inspiration, wanting to improve staff wellbeing or looking to run a creative outdoor workshop we’d love to help.