My Experience: Outdoors and Mental Health

Based on personal experience, the outdoors has been an integral part of me staying mentally healthy. From going on long bike rides to walks around local parks, I would say that each moment has allowed me to take a step away from the day to day routine school and work seems to demand. Here are some of the top ways that I take advantage of the outdoors in my local area:

1. Bike Ride

Bike rides this year, for myself, have been such a positive release of stress. The local Bethlehem area is bike friendly and there are several longer paths that offer beautiful sights and shade on warmer days. For me, I find listening to music and taking deep breaths while biking has been the most beneficial for me. Usually, the rest of the day I feel ready to take on work that I may have dragged my feet to do earlier that day.
 

2. Walk

While biking has been a huge positive for me this year, walking has proven time and again to be a great option when I have a smaller window of time to spend outdoors. Of course walking is not as active as riding a bike, but slowing down and taking time to appreciate the area I am moving through has greatly benefitted me as well. Also, I use walks to work on my photography, which adds to the feeling that I am improving my spatial awareness in Bethlehem.
 

3. Run

I have never been a big fan of running but as of late I have been working to give it more of a chance. Running feels like the middle ground between shorter walks and longer bike rides for me, an opening of time that I am finding to be more available based on my work schedule these days. Of course, running can be tough while you are doing it but I have found that once I am done with a run, I feel a lot more relaxed and level headed the rest of the day. Recently, I have gone on a few runs outdoors that have really improved my mental health for the next day or two.

4. Sit on a Bench

This option is definitely the least active out of the four I am going to list in this blog post but I have found the meditative essence of sitting on a bench to help just as well as any other option when it comes to experiencing the outdoors for myself. When I do take time to sit on a bench, I have usually taken the time to completely disconnect from technology and just work on taking deep breaths. Sitting on a bench has also allowed me to better think through situations I am dealing with in my life without the pressure to immediately deal with it, a scenario that has allowed me to deal with situations in a more healthy fashion.
 

I hope that this blog post inspires you to step out of your normal routine and find a new way to enjoy the outdoors. Again, I find that the outdoors has positively impacted my mental health, especially during these past few months, and hope that you may find the same to be true for yourself!

If you want to read more about exercising, check out Ally Wolloch’s post