Natural High

Do you ever experience overwhelm, negative thinking, creativity slumps, or poor memory?

What do you do when this happens?

There is a simple, powerful and cost free way to overcome these issues…

It’s not a potion or pill and you don’t need to seek a doctor or specialist. It’s accessible to all, and an excellent remedy for a variety of physical, mental and emotional issues.

Do some Brain Bathing in nature!

No need for soap and towel, this is not your typical bath!  Just like Brain Fitness activities, it will wash away your stress and increase circulation and blood flow to your brain.

According to the latest science, time in the great outdoors can produce some serious improvements in your health whereas, the time we spend in urban environments that are full of excessive stimulation, the more stressed and anxious we become.

Brain Bathing is spending time in nature, near trees, water and sunlight.  It has been studied for over 20 years and more intensively within the last 10 years, using biological markers like tracking cortisol levels.

Dr. Yoyshifumi Miyazak, considered one of the leading experts in Brain Bathing research in Japan, did studies measuring walking spent in nature vs. urban setting and laboratory treadmills. Of all three walking environments, certainly you can guess which one provided the most benefit.  Yes, nature had the greatest impact on reducing stress and lowering cortisol levels.

One study utilizes Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) which measures your state of relaxation, central nervous activity, and blood circulation to the frontal lobes of your brain.  This is where your executive functioning skills reside.  Brain Fitness has also been proven to create a positive effect in the same way.

Both nature, and integrative movement are powerful stress relievers; they bring us into balance, recharge our batteries, refocus us, unleash our creativity, and improve our heart rate, digestion, hormonal balance, blood pressure, and more.

The Positive Points, a Brain Gym® activity is a powerful integrative activity used to release mental and physical stress and decrease cortisol production.  They are also the neurovascular balance points for the stomach meridian.  Most people tend to hold stress in the abdomen, resulting in stomach aches and nervous stomachs.  The Positive Points bring blood flow to the frontal lobes, where rational thought occurs.  This prevents the flight-fight-freeze response, so that a new response to the situation can be learned.

Our screen-addicted society is more stressed out and distracted than ever.  A radically simple remedy:  do Brain Fitness right at your desk and then get into nature as often as you can.

A day spent in the forest can augment natural killer cells (which ward off disease) for up to a week later.  A few days spent in nature can yield benefits that last for a month or longer.  Equally, when you engage in Brain Fitness the benefits are immediate and the more you do, the effects are cumulative.

Mental, physical, emotional and functional health is literally right at your finger tips and in the environment around you!  Brain Bathing and Brain Fitness will make the world of difference in how you perceive, engage, and actualize your life.

5 Ways Brain Bathing and Brain Fitness will Benefit you:

  1. Put a smile on your face:

In May of 2013, more than 10,000 Canadians participated in the David Suzuki Foundation’s Nature Challenge to spend 30 minutes in nature, every day, for 30 days. Here’s the impact the participants noticed:

  • Increased sense of well-being
  • More energy, less stress & negativity
  • Less sleep disturbances
  • More productive on the job
  • Felt Happier
  1. Strengthen your Recall

Study at the University of Michigan tested student’s memories with and without exposure to nature:  Two groups of students took a memory test. One group then went for a nature walk, and the other group took a walk down city streets. The participants returned and took the same memory test again. The students who walked among trees did almost 20% better than their first score, whereas the city-walkers did not improve consistently.

  1. Improve Your Creative Problem Solving

Researchers had a group of participants head off on a 4 day camping trip, without technology.  Half of the participants were given a test on day one, before the trip started. The other half took the test on day four of the trip. They all took the same test, which measured the ability to creatively solve problems.

The result?  The group that took the test on day 4 (post nature) scored 50% higher than those who took it before the trip.

  1. Be Healthier

When people spend time in natural surroundings such as forests, parks and other places with plenty of trees, they experience increased immune function.  One reason for this is the airborne chemicals that plants emit to protect themselves from rotting and from insects, and which also seem to benefit humans.

  1. Your Brain Will be Sharper

Our indoor routines can become monotonous – we fall into patterns and our brains don’t get the kind of stimulation that they need to stay sharp.  Natural environments create a sense of novelty and excitement and being outdoors allows our minds to wander and imagine in a way that artificial indoor environments simply can’t provide.

With countless reasons to spend time in nature, perhaps it’s a smart plan to make Brain Bathing part of your weekly, if not daily routine?

 

To your Fit Brain & Fit Life,

Jill