Stress plays a big factor in our lives through the many tasks and activities that we have to face. It can lead to detrimental effects on our health, but studies have shown that nature and green spaces provide us with various benefits on our health. Jill Suttie’s “How Nature Can Make You Kinder, Happier, and More Creative” and Gretchen Reynolds’ “The Picture of Health” illustrate this point. Both authors present their articles with studies that shed light on the effects that nature has on us. Given the point, nature and green spaces can serve as a form of stress relief to help us improve our mental and physical states of beings despite all of the stress we accumulate. When we think of nature, it is usually about the beauty of it and how we
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After being shown the pictures, the students took a series of progressively hard math problems. As stated by Reynolds, “This tests has proved to be a robust means of raising stress levels” (Reynolds 2). Math usually relates to the side of logic, and it is known to cause stress for people, but Reynolds also make mentions of how the green spaces lowered the students’ stress. “When the students saw green spaces after the math stressor, their parasympathetic nervous systems kicked in, lowering heart rates…” (Reynolds 2). Having the green spaces shown to them after taking such a rigorous test helped to ease their mind and think more about the picture being show to them. That sense of easement helps to transition the student to their right side of the brain. This is due to the fact that the students are less engaged and more relaxed, and Suttie states that “lower engagement and arousal may be what allows for attention restoration, encouraging a more open, meditative mindset” (Suttie 4). As a student myself, I deal with stress daily. I try to relieve the stress through exercise, but it does not always serve me well. Coming from my experience, I have found that taking a walk through the park has eased my mind since I do not have much to think about, and I can look at the nature around me. It helps to ease my mind, but it also makes me feel good physically since I am partaking in physical activity as well. In addition, I do not feel as contained as I am inside a gym. So although I could run on a treadmill to calm myself, going for a jog in the park would be the better
After being shown the pictures, the students took a series of progressively hard math problems. As stated by Reynolds, “This tests has proved to be a robust means of raising stress levels” (Reynolds 2). Math usually relates to the side of logic, and it is known to cause stress for people, but Reynolds also make mentions of how the green spaces lowered the students’ stress. “When the students saw green spaces after the math stressor, their parasympathetic nervous systems kicked in, lowering heart rates…” (Reynolds 2). Having the green spaces shown to them after taking such a rigorous test helped to ease their mind and think more about the picture being show to them. That sense of easement helps to transition the student to their right side of the brain. This is due to the fact that the students are less engaged and more relaxed, and Suttie states that “lower engagement and arousal may be what allows for attention restoration, encouraging a more open, meditative mindset” (Suttie 4). As a student myself, I deal with stress daily. I try to relieve the stress through exercise, but it does not always serve me well. Coming from my experience, I have found that taking a walk through the park has eased my mind since I do not have much to think about, and I can look at the nature around me. It helps to ease my mind, but it also makes me feel good physically since I am partaking in physical activity as well. In addition, I do not feel as contained as I am inside a gym. So although I could run on a treadmill to calm myself, going for a jog in the park would be the better