The benefits of being outside on your emotional health

Being outdoors can hugely benefit your emotional wellbeing. 

Read on to find out about the joys of getting some fresh air.

One of the top tips in a recent article by the NCT for taking care of yourself after having a baby is to get a breath of fresh air. This just doesn’t apply for those who have just had their baby but also for those with young children or who are pregnant too. Their advice was to go out for a short walk every day as being outdoors can help lift your mood, and it doesn’t have to be for long,

Mind also say that even five minutes in a green space can have a positive impact on someone’s mental health. We are really lucky to live in such a lovely part of the UK, with access to parks, walks and countryside just moments away. Mind’s recent article 'how can nature benefit my mental health?’ talks about these benefits of being outside:

• Help you take time out and feel more relaxed – having ‘you’ time is so important, you can get swept away with the day to day of having a newborn, working through your pregnancy or even balancing the two.
• Improve your mood, physical health, confidence and self-esteem and reduce feelings of stress or anger – there are many studies which have shown that doing physical activity can improve mental health. According to Mind , it can help with:

• better sleep – by making you feel more tired at the end of the day

• happier moods – physical activity releases feel-good hormones that make you feel better in yourself and give you more energy

• managing stress, anxiety or intrusive and racing thoughts – doing something physical releases cortisol which helps manage stress. Being physically active also gives your brain something to focus on and can be a positive coping strategy for difficult times

• better self-esteem – being more active can make you feel better about yourself as you improve and meet your goals

• reducing the risk of depression – studies have shown that doing regular physical activity can reduce the likelihood of experiencing a period of depression

• Help you be more active – even a walk into town or by the river can help increase your activity. Leave the car behind and take those short walks in the fresh air
  

• Help you make new connections and provide peer support - if you want to get out of the house, Frome Birth Talk open their doors for pregnant women and mums with babies, every Wednesday at the Moxton Suite next to Frome Birthing Centre from 10 – 11.30am. A recent outing to Shearwater shows some of our mums who met at our weekly group venture out in the fresh air with their babies.

We’d love to see your photos of you enjoying the outdoors and hear stories about how being outside has benefited your mental health. Please email us or post on our social platforms.

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Author

Kim Barnard is a mother, marketing manager with Old Mill, and one of the Frome Birth Talk volunteer team.

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References

https://www.nct.org.uk/life-parent/self-care-and-well-being/top-tips-taking-care-yourself-after-having-baby

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/nature-and-mental-health/#.Xd2Px-TPojZ

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/physical-activity-and-your-mental-health/#.Xe5dmOTPqiM