The Connection Between Wellness, Nature, and Home
Wellness is becoming more popular each day with many Americans seeking a more balanced and fulfilling lifestyle. How do nature, the outdoors, and home factor into wellness? We researched this and found a good bit written that you might find interesting and helpful.
Let’s start with the wellness piece of this. Wellness is defined by The Global Wellness Institute as “the active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health. Wellness is more than just physical health. Wellness has at least six dimensions” of which our physical health is just one. Our mental, emotional, spiritual, social, and environmental well-being are essential aspects of our health in addition to our physical health.
Nature, the outdoors, and thoughtful home design play major roles in nurturing our mental and emotional health as well as our physical well-being. Getting outside and enjoying nature is shown to calm and center many in addition to offering the opportunity to exercise and improve our fitness. This phenomena has been cited by many including this article and study by University of Washington research and social scientist, Kathleen Wolf.
A 2019 study noted by Healthline.com speaks to eight benefits of “spending 120 minutes per week in nature including better breathing, improved sleep, reduced depression symptoms, more motivation to exercise, mental restoration, boosted immune function, protection from myopia or nearsightedness, and improved emotional well-being.
The Wellness Institute suggests that our homes and “built environments should encourage behaviors and habits that drive wellness”, behaviors that are consistent with a lifestyle that balances the needs for active exercise and fitness, needs for quiet time and contemplation away from technology and devices, and needs for spaces that encourage our interactions with both nature and the outdoors and others.
Riverchase Estates is a community that nurtures health and the many dimensions of wellness. The community’s wooded acreage homesites, 500-acre riverfront nature preserve, miles of walking trails, and active amenities at Eagle Commons provide a multitude of options supporting an active and healthy lifestyle.
