Reconnect to Nature: 5 Ways that Nature Helps to Give You a Reset

How Our Connection To Nature Affects Our Health

Nature Is A Gift

Nature is a universally free source of very compelling gifts for human beings. It keeps the mind sharp. It teaches history and respect for life and others. It provides an unbroken link to our roots as people.

Many people use nature as a way to stimulate creativity. Others are seeking to create a rejuvenating retreat from the hustle of modern lifestyles.

The experience of being immersed in nature can even be deeply spiritual and life-altering as many seekers through the ages have written that the best way to access inner peace and find their sense of purpose in life is through nature.

Yet unfortunately, for most people having a real-life daily or weekly connection to nature is not a normal part of their experience…

Perhaps it’s just a memory of moments in childhood running free in the fields and forests. Or maybe it was a one-time experience of shifting into an expanded state of consciousness while hiking in the wilds.

As our society seems to get crazier and the sensitive environment slips into decay, many people are worried that we’ve gone too far into chaos to escape.

We Should Keep Our Ability To Reconnect With Nature

In concrete urban landscapes or busy suburban neighborhoods where the pace of life is fast and our to-do lists are never-ending, it’s easy to forget how disconnected we are from the natural world. The ability to connect with nature and reap its benefits can seem difficult. This separation grows more in a burnt-out society that spends most of its free time on smartphones, TVs, and computers rather than being outside.

With this ever-widening distance between us and the outdoors, it might seem nearly impossible to find ways to connect with nature in your everyday life, but that doesn’t mean it’s true. Today, more scientists are discovering that we weren’t designed to only live within the urban sprawl and that staying connected to nature is critical for our health and happiness. It’s a cure for almost everything that ails, from depression to stress, to social isolation and even fatigue, there are so many benefits to getting outside. As someone who lives in an urban area, I’ve learned that although it can be hard, there are ways to forge that connection every day.

Think back to a time when you soaked in the ocean, slept under the stars, or took a walk in a cool forest. How did you feel? Most likely, you found yourself refreshed and at peace. This is nature’s magic. We’re so much a part of her, but modern life places a divide between us and her glory. This separation can leave us feeling just as a child does when separated from his mother: anxious, ungrounded, and lost. When these feelings arise, immersing ourselves in nature works as a reset button. By reconnecting with nature, we reconnect with our true selves.

Nature Has A Positive Impact On Humans

A  large body of research is documenting the positive impacts of nature on human flourishing—our social, psychological, and emotional life. Over 100 studies have shown that being in nature, living near nature, or even viewing nature in paintings and videos can have positive impacts on our brains, bodies, feelings, thought processes, and social interactions. In particular, viewing nature seems to be inherently rewarding, producing a cascade of position emotions and calming our nervous systems. These, in turn, help us to cultivate greater openness, creativity, connection, generosity, and resilience.

In other words, science suggests we may seek out nature not only for our physical survival but because it’s good for our social and personal well-being.

Sciences Take On Importance Of Our Connection With Nature

But what does the science say? Several studies have looked at how viewing awe-inspiring nature imagery in photos and videos impacts emotions and behavior. For example, in one study participants either viewed a few minutes of the inspiring documentary Planet Earth, a neutral video from a news program, or funny footage from Walk on the Wild Side. Watching a few minutes of Planet Earth led people to feel 46 percent more awe and 31 percent more gratitude than those in the other groups. This study and others like it tell us that even brief nature videos are a powerful way to feel awe, wonder, gratitude, and reverence—all positive emotions known to lead to increased well-being and physical health.

Positive emotions have beneficial effects on social processes, too—like increasing trust, cooperation, and closeness with others. Since viewing nature appears to trigger positive emotions, it follows that nature likely has favorable effects on our social well-being.

The Healing Nature Of Nature

Why is nature so healing? One possibility is that having access to nature—either by living near it or viewing it—reduces stress. In one study, people who lived near larger areas of green space reported less stress and showed greater declines in cortisol levels over the course of the day.

In another study, participants who viewed a one-minute video of awesome nature rather than a video that made them feel happy reported feeling as though they had enough time “to get things done” and did not feel that “their lives were slipping away.” And studies have found that people who report feeling a good deal of awe and wonder and an awareness of the natural beauty around them actually show lower levels of a biomarker (IL-6) that could lead to a decreased likelihood of cardiovascular disease, depression, and autoimmune disease. 

Though the research is less well-documented in this area than in some others, the results to date are promising. One early study by Roger Ulrich found that patients recovered faster from cardiovascular surgery when they had a view of nature out of a window, for example.

A more recent review of studies looking at different kinds of nature immersion—natural landscapes during a walk, views from a window, pictures and videos, and flora and fauna around residential or work environments—showed that nature experiences led to reduced stress, easier recovery from illness, better physical well-being in elderly people, and behavioral changes that improve mood and general well-being.