The Benefits of Being Outside: 4 Easy Ways to Spend More Time in the Great Outdoors by 30Seconds Mom

We’ve probably all felt at some point that maybe we should spend a little more time away from our desks and a bit more time out in the sunshine. Being in the outdoors is a great stress reliever and has even been shown to improve mental clarity. But for some people, it’s a struggle to make time to experience all that the natural world has to offer. Here are a few tips to help you better incorporate the outdoors into your daily life:

Take Your Everyday Activities Outdoors

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average person in America spends 90 percent of their lives indoors. So, whether it’s something as drastic as taking your desk outdoors once a week or something as simple as choosing to study or read your book in the garden or sitting outside while you open the mail, taking some of the things you do every day outdoors is a great place to start if you’re trying to get more sunshine.

Take Up an Outdoor Sport

If your job doesn’t allow you the ability to work anywhere or if your workweek is too packed to try and accommodate some hours of sun between Monday and Friday, then why not take up an outdoor hobby to fill up some of your weekend hours? Walking and hiking are fantastic and cheap ways to get your weekly dose of fresh air.

If you have access to a dam, river, lake or ocean, why not try out one of the many water sports that are available? From surfing the waves to learning how to kayak, there are a number of great activities that will let you build up your fitness levels while also giving you a chance to soak up the sun.

Try Camping

If using your valuable weekend hours for sport doesn’t appeal to you, then take a more laid-back approach to the outdoors and go camping. Camping has a number of health benefits, aside from allowing you to connect with the nature that will invariably land up in your tent. But probably the most important aspect of camping is the ability to unplug from the world for a few hours.

Unplugging from technology once in a while has been shown to improve a person’s quality of life, as it allows people to recharge and live in the moment a little bit easier. It has even been shown to improve the quality of your sleep, so consider your next camping trip more of a reset so you can focus more on work during the week.

Get to Know Your Local Parks

Whether it’s the small botanical gardens in your area or the massive national park spreading out over the wilderness, getting to know your local park is a great way to start spending more time in the outdoors. Many small local parks are free to the public, and they are a great way to meet new people and take some time out in the sunshine if your home doesn’t give you access to the outdoors through a garden.

Parks also play an important role in protecting natural ecosystems and allow for a number of outdoor activities as well. Why not take your binoculars with you to the park and do some butterfly or bird watching to find out what flora and fauna are in your area? Hobbies like these are a great way to be creative and imaginative as well as give you a peep into the natural world without costing you an arm and a leg.

However you choose to spend your time outdoors, just make sure you get the sunshine and fresh air you need to recharge your body and mind.

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