FeelingGoodWithSofy

Hello guys and welcome back to Feeling Good With Sofy! 🙂 ❤️

In this feel good blog post, I write about how impactful nature💚 can have on one’s overall health, my own thoughts regarding this topic and then I talk about a very beautiful nature experience I had last week!😍

Nature therapy

In today’s often hectic life, it can become all too easy to get stressed out, overwhelmed and burned out. So, doctors often recommend to people to spend more time in nature, as a way to wind down, relax and recharge. In fact it’s a sort of a wellness therapy, as I like to call it :)💚

There have been many studies, a growing body of research, dedicated to understanding the benefits of spending time in nature.

Nature benefits

Spending time in nature offers a wealth of benefits for both our physical and mental wellbeing.

Here are some important benefits:

• Improved mood and emotional regulation: spending time (on a regular basis) in nature can help you too boost your mood, increasing feelings of happiness and tranquility.
• Mindfulness: nature encourages us to be in the moment, enhancing mindfulness and creativity.💚Here is an example: being present 💚while breathing deeply and consciously, focusing your attention on what surrounds you such as a beautiful, calming landscape, the colours of the leaves of a tree, and listening to the sounds of nature, can also slowly guide you to appreciate and live in a more mindful way.
• Reduced stress and anxiety: nature has a calming effect on the nervous system. It can lower heart rate and blood pressure. Studies have shown that spending time in nature can lower levels of cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone.
• Enhanced vitamin D production: sunlight exposure, while taking proper care to avoid sunburn, helps the body to produce vitamine D, which is fundamental for bone health, immune function and overall wellbeing.
• Improved sleep: natural light exposure helps regulating the body’s circadian rhythm, leading to better sleep quality.

Nature and mental-health

Nature can truly become a vital role in one’s life, especially when it comes to one’s mental-health. As I have already mentioned before, nature has positive benefits also for one’s mental wellbeing. For instance it can alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety, lowering also symptoms of fatigue.

As someone who struggles with depression and anxiety on a daily basis, I find that being in nature is also a good strategy to calm myself down, to regain a sense of peace, strength and harmony within me when I am anxious and not really myself.

Natural Light therapy

My therapist❤️❤️ introduced me to light therapy a few years ago when I began struggling a lot with depression. Natural light therapy means exposure to natural sunlight for therapeutic benefits.

Sunlight triggers also the release of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that contributes to feelings of wellbeing and happiness.

I think and agree that getting good, natural light therapy, is also a good way to manage states of sadness.

When I am feeling down for example, It’s harder to go outdoors, but I try my best to get some light anyway, because I know it has a positive impact on me. Sometimes I am in my garden if I do not have energies, otherwise I try to take a mindful walk, also encouraged by a family member (for ex.)

Shirin Tulipani, an unforgettable experience! :)🌈

Last week, I took a short trip to Ornago, located North of Milan, to visit Shirin Tulipani, a lovely oasis in the middle of fields, with lots of beautiful tulips of many different kind of colours.

I was literally in awe when I saw this explosion of colours 🙂 and I felt so lucky to come there when the flowering was at its peak!

My mood was not the best that morning but once I saw all these enchanting colours in the sunlight, I started to feel better😊 and I found it so peaceful to walk in silence amongst this field of tulips (bought from Holland).

What makes this experience even more special is that you can pick your favourite tulips from the field and bring them back home! That’s amazing I think! Rendering the experience even more unforgettable😍!

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