Recovering from addiction is hard, painful work, but not every aspect of recovery has to be heavy or difficult. One way you can strengthen your recovery is to make time to engage with nature. At Safe Harbor Recovery Center, in Portsmouth, Virginia, we encourage our clients to spend time on things that increase their joy, inner peace, and gratitude. Nature is great for all of those things.
Benefits of Nature
The great outdoors can help people in recovery in a variety of different ways:
- Naturally reduce cravings. One study found that interacting with nature daily reduced cravings for alcohol, cigarettes, and junk food. Nature could mean a garden, park, or other outdoor areas.
- Lower stress levels. Studies that measured cortisol, heart rate, and blood pressure, as a gauge for stress, determined that spending 10-30 minutes per day in nature reduced stress and the risk for developing chronic physical health conditions.
- Decreased mental health symptoms. Time outside is also linked to fewer symptoms of substance use disorders, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, eating disorders, dementia, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Better sleep. This was found in several studies of the impact of nature exploration on the brain.
- Improved cognitive functioning. Being outdoors can also improve your cognitive function.
How Much Outdoor Time Do We Need?
In general, more time outside is better, but two hours per week seems to be the minimum amount that makes a measurable difference, and consistency is key. While extended camping trips and other lengthy outdoor adventures can be a lot of fun, research has shown that more frequent outdoor time makes more of a difference than prolonged time that does not happen as regularly.
What Counts as Nature?
All of the various components of nature can have health benefits. Some examples include:
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- Green spaces: Nature photography, visiting parks, gardens, or farms, growing container gardens, and even house plants
- Animals: Interacting with pets, bird watching, volunteering at an animal shelter, listening to recordings of bird songs
- Blue spaces: Anywhere outside with water, such as beaches, ponds, rivers, lakes, oceans, and activities like boating, swimming, listening to a rain storm, or even a waterfall recording
- Light: Getting a bit of sunshine by going for a walk, sitting near a window, or using a light box can help people to create more Vitamin D and serotonin, which can help mood, focus, stress levels, and sleep quality.
Nature Therapy
The benefits of nature are also being increasingly incorporated into mental health treatments, through a practice that is sometimes referred to as nature therapy, ecotherapy, or green therapy. This can look a number of different ways, depending on the needs and interests of the patient. Some examples include:
- Adventure therapy: Rafting, rock climbing, and other individual or group exploration
- Animal-assisted therapy: Dogs and horses are some of the most commonly utilized animals
- Arts and crafts: This could mean using natural materials to create art or creating art in an outdoor setting
- Exercising in nature: Running, walking, yoga, bike riding, or otherwise getting a workout in nature
- Therapeutic farming: Various farming activities, such as growing crops or caring for animals, can fall into this category
- Dark nature: This can include activities like night hikes and star gazing
Not only might a practitioner offer services in nature, but they might also prescribe that their patients spend time exploring the outdoors outside of their sessions. ParkRX also offers a way for patients to prescribe themselves outdoor time.
Things to Love About Ecotherapy
Ecotherapy isn’t just a way to have fun, it’s also:
- A low-cost way to boost your mood
- Easily accessible
- Modifiable for people with mobility limitations
- Universally beneficial, regardless of age, race, gender, religious background, etc.
- A low-risk option, provided that a person exercises proper precautions, such as: dressing for the weather and activities, ensuring someone knows where they will be and/or goes with them, being aware of their surroundings, wearing sunscreen and/or insect repellent as needed, bringing along water and snacks if needed
- Able to be combined with other interventions without risk of interactions
- As effective as medication for treating depression
At Safe Harbor Recovery Center, we offer several levels of care in our treatment program, so that no matter where a person is in their recovery journey, we can help them find the right level of support. We would recommend that all of our patients, regardless of their circumstances, find ways to enjoy the benefits of nature.