by Aicha Schaum

Exercising helps us to free our mind and creates a balance to the stress in work or from personal situations or whatever you might think of. Also it can make a lot of fun and is great for our physical and psychological well-being. But did you ever considered getting fit in Mother Nature? Probably. We want to give you 6 reasons though, why you should not only consider it, but actually do it. So, why is it better to workout outdoors than indoors?

1. You’ll exercise more and harder.

Unconsciously you exercise harder and maybe even longer once you step in front of the door. Your brain will focus on the changing landscapes — and will make you forget about the time more often because you have so much to see. So the perception of effort we put in will be less. Additionally your body has to work harder, for example if you walk on the beach or jog along the uneven routes of the park. Also different muscles will be trained and activated with each different surrounding within the same exercise, which you won’t have in a gym hall.

2. Goodbye, calories.

Since you work out more intense you will burn more calories. Still, there are more reasons. Several factors of nature such as wind and temperature but also the structure of the ground can make an exercise session more varied and your body can’t move in its used pattern, which will make it harder. The muscles will work more actively.

3. It’s a mental boost.

It will be a great booster for your physical health. According to the Centre for Diet and Activity research at the University of Cambridge and the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London exercising in nature is supporting your health in a great way, even if you work out in an urban surrounding. Especially risks for cardiac diseases are being reduced by for example regularly taking a nice walk in a park. Time to take the pets for a walk.

4. It will benefit your happiness.

Once you breathe in the fresh air while doing your sport, it will make you happier. A study published in Environmental Science and Technology states that the same exercise outside can improve your mental well-being more than it can inside. Other studies also have shown that doing sports outside such as biking can improve your self-esteem and mood by far. But also it may just make us happy to give Mother Nature a visit.

5. You’ll think more clearly.

A yoga session at the beach or a run through the forest will help you having your mind more focused and clear. Through a research related to mental health and sports outdoors Jo Barton, Ph. D. found out, that being near to nature helps us concentrating and also thinking more clearly.

6. It will reduce stress.

Barton also says that stress and anxiety disorders we may perceive in the future will be less after we went outside. Therefore it actually benefits our immune system, too. Another reason we all will find exercising on the other side of the wall more relaxed is that we can choose our own time table — and don’t have to wait for a treadmill to be free or the gym to be less full.

Tags: Sport Health Exercise Training Motivation

Meditation can reduce stress we perceive in our daily lives. It is really relaxing and we love it as our ritually escape from stress. But it kind of also stresses you out how to do it right and you actually start overthinking again? Here are 4 tips to help you getting into the deep relaxation:

1. Clear your head.

Meditation is a one person conversation. When you start to meditate, you should try to clear your head. That doesn’t mean you should think of nothing — but just put your mental to-do list aside for a moment. It is hard, but if you have difficulties with it, you can write down all the distracting thoughts, so you aren’t stressing out about forgetting something. Also you truly should be convinced that you deserve the time you are taking free for yourself and only yourself because otherwise you will try to rush through the meditation. Kind of stressy.

2. Surrounding.

Make sure during the whole meditation-burn-out session you won’t be disturbed. Make yourself feel comfortable in the place. You should feel okay with the temperature and the air. Some of us like music, some of us like sounds like the oceans. As long as it won’t interrupt your thoughts you can even choose pop songs with vocals, but just if you really can handle thinking and don’t just suddenly sing along and dance. Being alone is obvious, but our little fellow four legged friends are allowed.

3. The right position.

After you prepared yourself mentally for the meditation start to breathe in and out and get into your position. It should be comfortable, but keep your back straight so it will keep you focused and not sleepy. Try to stay a couple of minutes in this position to look if it suits you. Probably you will start to roll your back again, but try to remember to unroll it again. You can also start to train your back muscles so with time it will be easier to keep it straight. Feel how the ground is taking your weight and breathe. Couple of times.

4. Meet and greet with yourself.

Now that you prepared yourself for meditation a second time, just to be sure, you should be physically and mentally ready for this. “Hey, long time no see. How are you?” Treat yourself like a friend you haven’t seen in a while and you’re their psychologist. With this approach, it will help you to treat yourself kindly. You can ask yourself superficial questions like “Are you happy right now?” You might think it’s a short answer until you remember you’re an overthinker. Let all the thoughts come in and just follow the trace you want in your own pace. The essence is to allow all thoughts so they won’t be held back and come again at a time where you don’t have time for them. You can even wander off the answer to your original question. Just think of everything you want to think about, so burn yourself out until even you as an overthinker are tired of thinking.

Tags: Health Living Meditation Stress