Klaudia Mitura: Hello happiness seekers, welcome to the third and final part of the happiness challenge for this month of finding comfort and strength in nature. This month's happiness challenge has been inspired by the story of finding comfort and strength in nature from Ben Goldsmith, the author of 'God is an Octopus: Loss, love, and a calling to nature'.
You can listen to episode 80 to hear Ben's story, and if you would like to understand why nature impacts our happiness, listen to episode 81. But for the last three weeks, I have been exploring different ways of engaging with nature. The types of activity I have tried can be split into four different categories: wild, restoration, domestic and technological.
So join me to learn more.
Getting into the wild. So when we are thinking about reconnecting with nature to boost our wellbeing, the majority of us will be thinking of the trips that we can take to be closer to nature. How hiking in the mountains, canoeing in the lakes, bird watching in forest, surfing the oceans, and that way of engaging with nature was by all means, of course, my favourite. I have put extra effort to be able to swim in the sea and go on the outdoor walks because I live in the city. And because of the fact that my lifestyle is really urban, I really needed to put that extra effort to plan those trips and that actually made me curious, how much time exactly do we need to get high on nature.
And interestingly, there is research from European Centre for Environment and Health, which suggests an estimation of 120 minutes a week. So they look at the data from over 20, 000 people, and they found that those who spent a minimum two hours a week in nature were more likely to experience positive benefits for their happiness and overall wellbeing.
Then those who spent less than two hours a week, because those who spent less than two hours a week experience actually no difference in the levels of happiness. So that's very interesting to know. And I think it's very helpful if you don't have access to nature every day. So an idea for action here is plan a trip to spend time in nature and make sure that that time in nature lasts minimum two hours.
The second type of engagement with nature we can do is nature restoration. So nature restoration involves really revitalizing and rehabilitating ecosystems that has been severely damaged and degraded by human activity. This could be done through reforestation, wetland restoration, habitat conservation.
And of course, when we rejuvenate the natural world around us, we have numerous benefits, because it's not only about our happiness, but also restored eco systems provide habitat for wildlife. They enhance biodiversity, improve water and air quality and most importantly, mitigate that impact of climate change.
And of course, through nature restoration, we can connect with people. We can be part of community to develop the deeper appreciation for the environment and actually that sense of responsibility towards its preservation. And as part of this month's happiness challenge, I visited Knepp wildland. It is a rewilded farm in Sussex and that started its rewilding journey 20 years ago and actually is now one of the most biodiverse places in the UK. They have one of the largest breeding populations of songbirds in the UK and growing number of some threatened species, such as turtle dove and nightingale.
And I was lucky enough to actually visit them on a beautiful sunny day. And spend an afternoon with a volunteer tour guide exploring their wild areas, seeing the wild pigs and cattle they have living off the land. I even had a chance to visit the beaver pen and saw the positive effects the beavers are having on the ecosystem.
Very sadly, no beavers came to say hi, but it was still absolutely amazing to see rewilding in action. So idea for action is getting nature restoration. You can find your local wildlife trust or any similar charity and sign up for a volunteer work party. This can be as simple as spending a few hours cleaning weeds, but all of this makes a difference.
And specifically if you are interested in Knepp, you can read their book Wilding or watch their new movie that recently has come out. And again, I've been very lucky to be invited to their movie screening in London. So it was a fantastic experience to actually see the journey also on the screen.
The third way to engage with nature is actually to make the most of domestic nature. So local parks, urban gardens, potted plants, pets in the home are all reminders that we are part of nature, and we have a strong connection with it. And the positive effects of nature generally, are not only experienced by people who spend time in the wild, but also our experience when we are reconnect with nature in green spaces, such as local parks, urban gardens, or even when we are sitting in the living room, surrounded by plants. I personally have my rooftop garden with 80 different plants, even though it's concrete, it feels really different because of the amount of the plants I planted all inspired by the impacts of the domestic nature.
And also, I created a mini greenhouse in my flat to plant some seeds for herbs to then transfer them into my windowsills in the spring. And I must say through this challenge, I also started to pay attention whether people have plants in their flats when visiting my friends or colleagues or acquaintances.
And it's actually really sad sometimes to see that often that's not the case. The plants are not part of their day-to-day environment, whereas they are so important, and they have such a positive impact on our happiness. So idea for action is bring nature to your home, get yourself a house plant restoring green spaces, transforming rooftops into urban gardens.
Having potted plants on your balcony, planting trees in our new spaces are seriously just a few examples of how we can take care and take advantage of domestic nature to boost our happiness. So here we go. Bring your, bring nature to your home. Get yourself a house plant this week.
And the final way that we can engage with nature is all about technology, actually. So we all hear about the negative effects of technology. But what if we spend the time to experience nature? So depictions of nature in photography, documentaries or art are, of course, not able to replace the time that we spend in nature, in outdoors but they still have some positive impact on wellbeing.
So there are a series of studies based in laboratories when participants viewed a stressful movie followed by a quick short clip of six different natural environments versus urban setting of cities. And the result was that those who viewed the natural environments recovered from the stress, which was measured as a physiological reaction in their bodies, much, much quicker than those people who've seen clips of cities.
I personally love listening to nature sounds when falling asleep. I have my favourite tracks of ocean sounds. Even though my rooftop garden is based in the centre of London, I often put on bird songs, which I found really relaxing. So the idea for action is that at times when you cannot get out to be in wild or greenery space, you can still connect with nature by listening to the sounds of nature.
So catch a documentary about our beloved planet. View some art or photography featuring natural beauty or listen to your favourite nature sounds.
In summary, to engage with nature, you can explore four categories, wild restoration, domestic and technological. All these four categories, when combined can help you to reconnect with nature daily. The most important aspect that this is part of your routine to bring nature back into your life for a happier living. Scientists from the University of Virginia created something called Nature Pyramid where they are showcasing the types of connections and frequency of being in nature that we may need for healthy living.
And the nature pyramid actually encourages us to access a small dose of nature daily, like growing your herbs in window boxes, but then also remembering to move up the pyramid to really plan time of spending time in nature, like hiking holidays, being in the parks, being outside. So remember the most important aspect is that you bring a dose of nature frequently from different categories to really boost your happiness.
I hope you've been joining in with this month's happiness challenge about exploring nature. Let me know how you feel on LinkedIn. You can find me under my name, Klaudia Mitura, or you can join my newsletter, The Happiness Challenge. I see you at the next episode and I dare you to be happy and I dare you to explore nature.
Bye.
