Anxiety and nature

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I spend a good part of yesterday afternoon sitting out back under a fejoa tree because of the heatwave. I sat for about 3 hours reading a book.

I noticed my anxiety is better this morning. Has anyone seen a large decrease in anxiety after spending time in nature? I’ve decided to do it every night now.

I work in a concrete jungle and it cannot be good for ones health.

I suspect this is more about the lack of people when you're not in an oppressive urban environment. I work in Leeds, England, which is very oppressive to anyone on the spectrum. Its all concrete, all the time. It's also hot, noisy and bright in my open plan office. Anywhere else is better, certainly sitting under a tree would be.

Getting outside and reading or taking a walk is helpful for me.

Me too. Especially when I am around water and birdlife. Fortunately I live near a beautiful stream a quarter of a mile away and the sea which is very near my place. The kingfishers pluck fish as big as themselves from the sea and take them back to their hole-in-the-cliff nests, flying easily with a catch that weighs more than they do quite often. I could never get tired of watching them and the air is fresh at our local beach with lots of trees nearby. There are usually more herons than people there, as it is a semi-private beach, so it is peaceful and quiet, which soothes and replenishes me. I am very lucky, and grateful for this.

Yes, a walk in the countryside is one of my favourite "therapies" for myself. I do get some relief from the stress of the outside world by being alone with my special interests at home, but I definitely find something more beneficial about being out in nature.

When I have a meltdown, my first reaction is usually to get as far away as possible. I'm not conscious of trying to get anywhere particular, and usually can't remember my wanderings, but I find that very often I end up in the countryside or a park when I come to my senses - nature seems to hold a very strong, deep attraction for me.

I used to go to a caravan site up in Scotland with my family which always cleared my head and helped me relax every time we visited it, as besides a small and very quiet village nearby it was just open hills and farmland or forests all around it. Walking through both of them was always enjoyable

Living in a city gets overwhelming, not due to a fault of anyone else, but when my mind spends a lot of time bracing itself for interactions with people and then self-analysing how things went afterwards, especially in work, the urge to get out of there for a while gets very tempting

YES!

I usually go on shorter day hikes or longer walks and even though i continually run into people out on the trails, i feel much better being surrounded by trees instead of being surrounded by a**holes.

This year, i'm planning to take a longer hike that i was supposed to take last year (didn't for several reasons), and i got almost all gear ready and i'm already out this early (both today and yesterday) in the below freezing cold doing walks to strengthen up my back and increasing my constitution.

I've heard of studies that say that just looking at green makes people calmer, and not just autistics. As human beings we're supposed to be living in nature and not as close to each other as we do today in gray concrete structures with fiber access to cat videos.

Yes!

I am always more relaxed and happy in a natural environment. Even better, put me in a canoe on the water and I am in heaven. Everything falls away.

Yes,I always find nature calming. it makes me feel small and insignificant but in a cosseting way. I live in a small town and in my walk between the supermarkets I stop and watch the ducks for a short recharge. The sky works well for this as well and the sea

Nature has been my salvation many times when I was extremely down in the dumps.

Yes, nature does have a positive effect on my psyche. It changes my emotions and stresslevel right away if I go outside and into the woods. And it helps me change my perspective on things so I feel less overwelmed by everything. Unfortunalty I am sensitive to low temperatures so unless we are lucky with the weather, I need to walk and keep moving if I am to stay outdoors for longer periods of time. It is annoying because I really would like sitting outside reading and relaxing more often.

I walk through the forest every day to feed and check on the horses who rather like to stay there than the stable unless the weather is bad...

Untouched nature with stones and old trees covered with moss where nothing is cultivated or arranged. I like that over gardens even though I like gardens as well. I`ve been trying to make one but it is hard work when beginning from scratch so it is a slow progress.

Some of the places around here are like natural mossgardens. It is peaceful to spend time there and I am almost afraid to walk there because I feel my footsteps are ruining it Some of the plants that grow on the forest floor are so delicate and tiny it is amazing to watch them.
I think all the colors, movements, smells and sounds in nature are part of what makes it so relaxing to me, but also all the things to notice and pay attention to and become curious about takes the focus away from what might be troubling me.

Wishing everyone plenty of nice stress reducing moments in nature during this spring