The background: Look, we’ve known this for some time now: Being outdoors, being in nature–it’s good for YOUR physical & mental health.
But did you know that being outdoors needs to become more inclusive? As physicians, we want to see more equal racial and gender distributions.
WATCH THE VIDEO ⤵
In the news: New research shows that people of color do not have equal access to some of the spaces that can provide mental health benefits. Mainly, we’re talking about stuff like being outdoors in national parks and camp sites.
The Doctor’s Expert Insights:
The big picture here is this: Being outdoors in nature has a lot of benefits to your overall physical and mental health:
- Being outdoors helps to reduce your blood pressure.
- Being outdoors CALMS the brain and that helps with frontal lobe activation.
- This basically means that being outdoors helps with proper decision making, and proper planning.
The list goes on and on and on!
Doctor’s Quote: So yeah, for optimal mental health our goal is to make sure that we’re enjoying life outdoors, but we got to make sure that we’re enjoying the outdoors in an INCLUSIVE MANNER rather than an exclusive manner.
Next steps: Go find a friend and go enjoy the outdoors for better mental health!
Content Reviewed & Approved by Dr. Puja
