Health Wednesday: “Green exercise” feels good!

Exercise in nature and you’ll improve your mood AND your self-esteem.

That’s according to new research published in the journal, Environmental Science and Technology. Researchers from the University of Essex, in the UK, have been studying “green exercise,” the term given to exercise in natural surroundings. 

While every “green environment” provides mood benefits, having water nearby seems particularly helpful in boosting emotional wellbeing, the researchers found.

That has to explain why I LOVE walking on (or near) the beach!

If you’d like to read the particulars, you’ll find the paper here. (But if scientific papers are not your thing, you’ll learn a lot just by reading the first two paragraphs in the paper’s Discussion section.) Apparently, even “short engagements” in green exercise are helpful.

So if you can’t “get away” to a green environment that often, take heart and DO WHAT YOU CAN.  Snatch a little “get away” time in your nearest green environment.

In my upcoming eBook, Get Strong, Fit and Fabulous, I recommend two days a week of 45 to 60 minutes of stress-relief cardio. This is low-intensity stuff, which I suggest doing outside, weather permitting. (If not, inside is OK, too. At least one other study has reported that the steady rhythm of walking–even on a treadmill–can be soothing.)

This is me, thoroughly loving my walk near the ocean in Spring Lake, NJ, a couple of weeks ago. If I lived here, I think I’d be out here nearly every day.

Please observe: I’m totally enjoying myself–not thinking about bills or deadlines. Just aware of the ocean breezes, the sun, the sound of the surf and the gulls.

When you feel THAT good, you’re not thinking about overdoing the chocolate!

Do YOU get out in nature much? Where? Does it relax you? Put you in a better mood? I’d love to hear!