Harnessing Your Environment for Better Mental Health

Have you ever noticed how much better you feel after spending time outside? Or conversely, how your brain feels cluttered when there is stuff lying around the house?

We all know that our surroundings significantly influence our mental well-being. Whether it’s a bustling city or the quiet countryside, our environment plays a crucial role in shaping our moods and overall mental health. So, how can we harness our environment to improve our mental well-being?

The Impact of Your Environment on Mental Health

For a while now, research has shown a strong correlation between our environment and our mental health. But let’s look at specific factors.

• The Importance of Natural Light: Studies have highlighted the negative impact of limited exposure to natural light on our physiological, sleep, and mental health. This means spending time outdoors or ensuring there is plenty of natural light indoors can work to significantly boost your mood and energy levels.

• The Clutter Connection: There is much research that shows how clutter can contribute to feeling stressed and overwhelmed. Decluttering your living and workspace can create a sense of calm and focus, positively impacting your mental well-being.

• Bringing Nature Indoors: While spending time in nature is beneficial, incorporating elements of nature indoors can also enhance your mental health. Interacting with indoor plants can create a more serene atmosphere and reduce stress. This can be as cheap or expensive as you wish; propagating plants from clippings can be easy and free! There is a myriad of online site for tips. After all, can you ever have too many indoor plants? 

• The Power of Nature Therapy: In the Glimmer article, Community spaces grow our well-being, guest writer Dr. Jen George explains the positive effects of community green spaces on stress reduction and well-being. Spending time in green spaces, such as parks or forests, can help you relax, improve your mood, connect you with community, and boost your overall mental health.

Finally

By making conscious choices about our environment, we can significantly improve our mental well-being. Incorporating natural light, decluttering, and connecting with nature can create a space that supports our emotional and psychological health. Remember, even small changes can make a big difference.

Looking for more articles on improving your wellbeing? See these Glimmer articles

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Sources:

Interactions of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms in human visual cortex. McMains, S., Kastner, S. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21228167/

Interaction with indoor plants may reduce psychological and physiological stress by suppressing autonomic nervous system activity in young adults: a randomized crossover study. Lee MS, Lee J, Park BJ, Miyazaki Y.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25928639/

Lack of exposure to natural light in the workspace is associated with physiological, sleep and depressive symptoms. Harb, F, Hidalgo MP, Martau B https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/07420528.2014.982757

The dark side of home: Assessing possession ‘clutter on subjective well-being. Roster CA, Ferrari JR, Jurkat MP.  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494416300159?via%3Dihub

Viewing nature scenes positively affects recovery of autonomic function following acute-mental stress. Brown DK, Barton JL, Gladwell VF.  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3699874/

What does clutter do to your brain and body? https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/what-does-clutter-do-to-your-brain-and-body#:~:text=Clutter%20can%20affect%20our%20anxiety,other%20people%20decluttering%20their%20lives).