If you’re like the average person, you’ll spend more than half of your lifetime indoors. Did you know that Britons spend 92 percent of their time indoors? When asked what activities they do outdoors, it involves plenty of physical exercise, compared to indoors when they’re spending most of their time sat.
Let’s talk about the reasons you should get out of the house more often.

 

REASONS TO SPEND MORE TIME OUTDOORS – Spending time outdoors can improve your short-term memory. A study was conducted on students at University of Michigan. One group took a walk indoors, and the other half took a walk down a street. The ones who had spent time amongst nature did 20 percent better at remembering than the first time.
Researchers claim that when your brain “isn’t working sometimes” it’s down to mental fatigue. Exposing your mind to restorative environments can help it get back into gear. A study found that people’s energy dramatically increased just by looking at pictures of nature.
Feelings of tension and stress aren’t good for your mental or physical health. By talking a stroll outdoors, you will decrease your heart rate and levels of cortisol (the hormone which controls your stress). Consequently, you feel less overwhelmed than spending time indoors. So, if you work in an office on stressful projects, take fresh air breaks, or make a point looking out of a window at nature, a moment of pause can sometimes work wonders .
Studies have found that outdoor activity can reduce poor vision in children and adolescents. An Australian study conducted an experiment on 2,000 school children, and
found that the half that spent time playing outdoors had a lower prevalence of myopia (eye condition), than the remaining half that spent the time indoors.
Engaging with nature and exposing yourself to the sun can boost your performance on creative problem-solving tests by 50 percent. Research has concluded that there is a positive relationship between creative thinking and spending time outdoors. This could be due to eliminating technology, or being in amongst nature, either way, it’s a positive correlation.


IS IT BAD TO BE INDOORS? There are so many benefits to being outdoors which override being indoors. A few additional reasons are: increase energy, improved well-being, can alleviate symptoms of depression. Regularly being cooped up indoors is a much more hermetic lifestyle. When the doors and windows are closed, you’re breathing in stale air, spending too much time indoors can cut off your body’s supply of healthy gut bacteria. This can make you more prone to illnesses and no to mention, colds and flu as you’re not exposing yourself to antibodies.

WRITTEN BY Amy Poole