Being in green spaces helps us to feel calmer and less anxious which is good for our mental health and sense of wellbeing. According to an NHS report, people who spend at least two hours per week in nature are shown to have better general health and higher psychological wellbeing than those who don’t visit nature at all. Being amongst nature is truly therapeutic – but why?
Although there is much more research needed, specialists are finding how different wavelengths of colour light affect our central nervous system in different ways to induce these moods and emotions. In green spaces, we are bathed in nature’s backdrop canopy of plants and vegetation which is predominantly the ‘living colour’ green of nature’s pigment chlorophyll. Greens have shorter wavelengths which modulates the hypothalamus in the brain to secrete hormones such as oxytocin. This hormone activates the parasympathetic nerves which travel all over the body and is responsible for putting us in to beautiful relaxed states by slowing down our heart rate..
Just to add that red has a longer wavelength and activates the sympathetic nerves responsible for our ‘fight or flight’ impulse. Red put us into a state of alertness and increases our heart rate making us ready for action.
