Let me ask you a rather strange question. When was the last time you looked at some green? And I don’t mean the colour green, anyone can look at the colour green (like a green shirt or something); when I say looking at green I mean looking at trees, the grass and nature. It’s a sad truth that nowadays more of us spend time looking at a screen than we do almost anything else. Even when we do go outside we’re normally on our phones messaging someone or checking out the latest notifications on twitter or Facebook or whatever. I’m no exception, I spend far too much time in front of a computer screen than any individual should, and my introverted nature doesn’t help matters.
But the truth is, sometimes just looking at some greenery, even if it’s just from a window, can be beneficial to our health, both mentally and physically. This article from the New Yorker website talks all about how just having a few extra trees around can boost our health and our happiness. According to the article, the happiness boost experienced by people just by planting 11 extra trees around a city block is equal to all the residents in that particular area getting twenty thousand dollars in their bank account; or if all them suddenly became one and a half years younger! There you go folks, the secret to eternal life isn’t in the fountain of youth, it’s in trees, so plant more of them and achieve immortality.
Another article from the University of Minnesota talks about how our surrounding environment affects our stress levels, and how a more natural environment is beneficial for our health and our state of mind. The article talks about how nature reduces stress, anger and anxiety and how it increases positive emotions. It goes on to talk about how we are genetically engineered to find nature engrossing, and thus are able to deal with pain much better even when we can just look at a tree. They talk about a lot more stuff about nature and how it’s good for us, go ahead and check it out for yourself.
Well that’s all I have to say on that subject. Now, there are a bunch more articles that talk about how nature is good for you, but they all just talk about the same thing, and I don’t think I need to repeat the same thing a thousand times. I mean, if even after saying the same thing a thousand times you still aren’t convinced then I don’t think saying the same thing a thousand more times is going to convince you anymore (have I said the same thing enough times yet?)
Well there you have it friends. Now I’m not saying you have to go outside, I won’t force that on you. All I’m saying is that every now and then look away from your screen and try to look at a real plant for a while (after that you can go back to your screen all you want). So go ahead and enjoy the green and increase your happiness and lifespan!
Alternative Yoga 