Why walking, wellbeing and nature go hand-in-hand

by David Feather

On 2 November an event was held in Glasgow to review the benefits of walking in nature.

The Chief Medical Officer for Scotland introduced it and said:

‘Over the last two years, I’ve never been more convinced that the interconnectedness of nature, movement, and wellbeing run together. During some undoubtedly hard times of recent years, I found solace, I found headspace and I found calm during morning bike rides, evening walks or runs.’

That, of course, was a personal experience. But, he also went on to reveal a study that showed how having a relationship with nature and regularly noticing three things in nature can have lasting, positive health benefits. So, to get the best out of your walk in the Nature Reserve, remember to notice at least three things: the birds, butterflies or blossoms, the grasses, and all the other aspects of flora, fauna and fungi.

The CMO continued:

‘People did sustain their levels of nature connectedness just from a simple intervention, even two months after it. This is a bit of a shocking finding for a psychologist. Most of the intervention work that we do, after a while, people go back to where they started. We can help people to change, but actually getting them to stay changed is often the key thing that psychologists are looking for and we found it in our first attempts. We also found an improvement in people’s health and that improvements in their nature connectedness are correlated with improvements in their wellbeing. But only in the noticing nature group.’

Should you wish to learn more of this event, look at here for an article called: Our Expert Lecture uncovers why walking, wellbeing and nature go hand-in-hand – Paths for All