A Healthy Dose of the Great Outdoors

Artists and poets have long celebrated the beauty and allure of the outdoors. The pull of nature—trees budding, birds flying, or the sun setting over water—is strong. Many people may have even noticed how their mood or energy levels improve when they spend time outdoors.

Some scientists believe that humans have an innate need to connect with other living things. Growing evidence seems to support this theory and suggests that spending time outside may even improve health.

Let there be light
One reason to get outside: It helps maintain strong bones.

Sunlight provides vitamin D, which the body needs to absorb calcium and keep bones healthy. In one study, older women who had hip fractures were found to have very low levels of vitamin D.

Studies also suggest that vitamin D from sunlight may protect against breast cancer. The southern United States has lower rates of breast cancer than the northeast, where sunlight is less intense.

Mood also may be affected by sunshine—or the lack thereof. Regular exposure to light—natural or special light fixtures—seems to help many people with seasonal affective disorder (SAD). This form of depression often strikes during the darker months of the year.

Even if you don’t have SAD, getting outdoors might lift a case of the mid-winter blahs. It also might help you sleep better. One theory is that light helps regulate the hormone melatonin, which is linked to sleep cycles. Brain chemicals that affect mood also may be involved.

Natural tension relief
Hiking and other outdoor activities are believed to release tension and stress. But people may not even have to exercise outside to attain these mental-health benefits. Just being able to look at nature through a window may help.

Post-surgical patients who could see trees outside their windows needed less powerful painkillers than patients who viewed a brick wall. The nature viewers also made a faster recovery.

New tower designed to ease tension
Natural tension relief will be a part of Salem Hospital’s new patient-care tower when it opens in 2009. According to Jeff Stouffer, AIA, HKS Architects, Inc., “The private patient rooms in the new hospital addition maximize views to a new centralized garden on the north side and large expanses of trees to the south. This is one of many evidence-based design elements that have been incorporated into the design of the expansion and renovation project.”