#WellbeingWednesday – Tips for getting outside to experience nature
It is well known that being outside experiencing nature benefits both our physical and mental wellbeing, reducing feelings of stress, anger and fear.
Being in nature, or even viewing scenes of nature, reduces negative feelings and can help boost your wellbeing by increasing positive feelings. Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and the production of stress hormones.
There are many ways that you can experience nature and this week we are challenging you to get outside, get some fresh air and boost your wellbeing. Here’s some tips on how you can experience nature:
- Go for a walk – you can find out more about walking routes around Edinburgh here
- Spend some time in your garden
- Connect with animals in nature – bird watching, look out for wildlife or find out about community farms in your area here
- Spend some time in nearby parks or greenspaces
- Start growing or picking your own fruit and vegetables – find out more here
Share your #WellbeingWedneday experience
We want see what you will be doing to experience nature this week, so please share any images across our social media channels using #ECCares and #WellbeingWednesday or email them to the Communications team.
You can view last week’s #WellbeingWednesday, which focused on the benefits exercise on your physical and mental wellbeing, here.