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Doing Outdoor Stuff is Good....

Friday, 25 March 2016 01:10

By Dr. Brett Oden

Have You Had Your Ecotherapy Today?

     While most everyone knows spending time outside makes you happier, we now have scientific proof that it also makes you healthier. Therapy that uses nature as a tool, termed “ecotherapy”, has long been gaining prominence amongst mental health professionals. Studies have shown lowering of depression scores by over 70 % among test subjects taking a walk in nature compared to walking in a shopping mall. While many athletes may say “I’m not prone to depression” and “My workouts should be stressful to be effective”, it is prudent to examine the chemical and physiologic basis of stress and...

recovery and the reasons exercising outdoors is so important to our well-being.

    I’ve seen many athletes choose a training session on the trainer or treadmill thinking they are in need of the consistency and more exact monitoring it affords over the natural environment when in fact their cortisol levels dictate that they are at a point in their training that they need a run through the woods much more than another treadmill session. Or for some of us, the routine of the gym or the ease of exercising from home wins out over the hassle of loading the mountain bike on the car or driving to the nearest trailhead to run. However, if we examine the scientific reasons working out in a natural environment is more beneficial to our health AND athletic performance, we gain the knowledge and motivation to make the right choice more often.

    A run or bike through the woods, relative to both indoors and on roadways, affords differences in the sounds we hear, the color and variations of what we see, and even in the composition of the air we breath. Research shows that visual as well as auditory impressions from nature reduce sympathetic activation from stress quicker than those from an urban environment. Even testing in the laboratory, in the absence of outdoor air, smells, and sounds of nature, researchers at the University of Essex found that cyclists pedaling in front of green images like those found in nature felt less exertion than those pedaling in front of other colors. And what we can’t see or hear, in terms of higher oxygen and lower carbon dioxide and monoxide levels, may be one of the most importance reasons to skip that run in a crowded gym or amongst cars and head for the woods.

    As we all are inevitably spending more and more time in front of the blue light of an electronic screen, it is becoming even more important to go green. “Being indoors glued to a computer creates an inflammatory stress response, which taxes your whole system,” notes Eva Selhub, M.D. in her book Your Health Destiny. “ Time in nature counteracts that. It turns off the response.”

    Specific health conditions also benefit from outdoor activity. You are less likely to have allergy and asthma symptoms the more time you spend outdoors. Studies have found certain beneficial microbes in natural environments lacking in urban areas and the lack of microbial diversity is felt, along with pollution, to be causing the rise in allergy and asthma prevalence in urban areas. Studies of children with ADHD show increase concentration after exercising outdoors relative to doing the same exact exercise indoors. Researchers at Stanford also showed the greatest gain in cognitive skills and creativity among college students after the combination of exercise and nature (they went as far as pushing people down the same trails in wheelchairs as a control group).

    I don’t think there is anyone reading this who couldn't benefit at times from increased motivation to adhere to an exercise program. One of the most conclusive studies of exercise outdoors showed not only increased enjoyment of the activity but increased motivation to return and improved adherence to an exercise plan. I hear an awful lot of people talking about their “pain cave” and the ‘’dreadmill”, but rarely hear of anyone dreading a trail run. This is where signing up for a midseason off road triathlon or trail run can help propel fitness gains for the whole year. This need amongst the triathlon community, as well as the need to help get our youth offline and into nature was my motivation to launch the inaugural Bertram Blast, Minnesota’s first full off road swim/bike/run taking place this July in Monticello.

  Regardless of the scientific data, it perhaps seems most relevant for us to think about where we came from in choosing where we spend our precious free time. Science will continue to elucidate the reasons, but considering how much we have yet to learn, environmental psychologist Judith Heerwagon perhaps said it best: “We respond positively to things that are good for us. Trees offer shade, protection and often have fruit and nuts. We like things that are inherently good for us and our survival.”

    For those of you who are still reading, thank-you for enduring my rambling. I often wish I could be telling all of my patients this but never have the time in the exam room. But my pine scented candle here next to my computer (the scent of fresh pine has been shown to lower depression and anxiety) reminds me that there is a great trail through a pine forest waiting for me at Bertram Lake today…