Did you get your Vitamin N today? Back to Nature offers surprising benefits

by Laura

It may really surprise you how much you can benefit from spending just an hour in a natural setting. They are even calling it Vitamin N – n for Nature. You can take a walk in the park or spend time in a home or office designed to take advantage of views of nature.

Hospitals designed with nature in mind find that patients have less stress, can heal faster, and need less pain meds.

A 2008 study by the University of Michigan showed that hour-long “doses” of nature helped people not only deal with stress, but they had a 20 percent better attention span, and also showed improved memory. And in 2012, a University of Kansas study showed people had as much as a 50 percent improvement in creativity after being immersed in a natural setting for a few days.

It is a bit hard to apply these findings because there is little description of the Vitamin N exposure that the participants were given.

But still, we can offer some popular ways of getting back in touch with nature. Such as:

1- Plant a garden, preferably something that will attract some wildlife, birds or butterflies that you can enjoy watching.

2- Encourage your children to interact with nature in a creative way. Small children often spend hours in a sand box. Take them on a nature walk to pick up interesting leaves in the fall that they can use in art projects at home.

3- Join a group at a nature center for spring and fall hikes to note the change in seasons and migrating birds.

4- Taking up photography forces you to look for subjects out there in fields and parks, or even in your back yard.

5- Put a comfortable chair on a patio, porch or sun room to watch the change in seasons.