[Closed] We Are Wired To Be Outside..

Wired to be outside, yes. Not sure about being wired to be upside down in mid air though.

TUP mols

Wired to be outside... then post nihilistic filtered bullshit on Instagram

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

Tombstoning is so 2012 🙄

Did any of the detractors read the article?

Or did you just throw in your comments without reading it first...

It's actually based on science, yes science...I know, it means trusting experts....

If you'd read it, you'd realise it wasn't BS...

But hey, don't learn, don't expand, don't enjoy your life more & understand why you enjoy things then add to that...

Jeez, I guess self-growth is oh so over rated for some of you & you already know it all..

then post nihilistic filtered bullshit on Instagram

How is the article nihilistic? You plainly didn't read it.

Post Brexit it won't exist.

Did any of the detractors read the article?

Or did you just throw in your comments without reading it first...

It's actually based on science, yes science...I know, it means trusting experts....

If you'd read it, you'd realise it wasn't BS...

But hey, don't learn, don't expand, don't enjoy your life more & understand why you enjoy things then add to that...

Jeez, I guess self-growth is oh so over rated for some of you & you already know it all..

What did you expect? Your post had no content, no context what you posted was a photo of some bell end doing a back flip into a river no doubt on his gap yaah

What did you expect? Your post had no content, no context what you posted was a photo of some bell end doing a back flip into a river no doubt on his gap yaah

Content?

Link at the bottom of the post!

I'm not copying & pasting the whole damn article..

Try RTFT...

I'm not copying & pasting the whole damn article..

That's because you're **cking lazy... I mean not even a brief synopsis?

Then again you wrote "RTFT" I'm not even sure what that means in TXT SPK I guess you're 13.

EDIT - Happy to help 🙂

USA
SIGN IN
EXPLORE NAT GEOSHOPSUBSCRIBEOrigins: The Journey Of HumankindSee A Preview Now
LATEST STORIESPHOTO OF THE DAYCLIMATE ACTION

BOOK TALK
We Are Wired To Be Outside
Science is demonstrating what we intuitively know: Nature makes us happy.

Picture of man diving off cliff
VIEW IMAGES
A young man dives into McDonald Creek at Glacier National Park in Montana. "The frontal lobe, the part of our brain that's hyper-engaged in modern life, deactivates a little when you are outside," says author Florence Williams.
PHOTOGRAPH BY COREY ARNOLD, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
By Simon Worrall
PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 12, 2017
When we first see Elizabeth Bennett, in the 2005 film of Pride and Prejudice, she is walking through a field, surrounded by birdsong and trees. Nature, for Jane Austen’s heroines, is always a source of solace and inspiration. And as Florence Williams shows in her new book, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative, modern technology is now revealing what goes on in our brains when we step outdoors—and why nature is so good for us. [Read Williams's National Geographic story "This Is Your Brain on Nature."]

When National Geographic caught up with Williams by phone in Washington, D.C., she explained why even a house plant can make us feel good, why the practice of “forest bathing” is now supported by the Japanese government, and how trees can lower the murder rate in our cities.

Picture of book jacket
VIEW IMAGES
COURTESY W.W. NORTON
You open your book with a simple question: “What makes people happy? Does place matter, or not so much?” Tell us about the Mappiness project—and what you call “our epidemic dislocation from the outdoors.”

The Mappiness project was developed in the U.K. by a happiness researcher called George MacKerron. It’s a brilliant idea, which tries to capture in real time what people are doing and how it makes them feel. I downloaded this app onto my phone and used it for about a year. The way it works is, it pings you at random times a couple of times a day and gives you a list of options. Are you driving, doing childcare, cooking, hanging out with friends? Are you outside or inside and how are you feeling? Like, “I feel happy, not so happy.”

At the end of the year I got my data, which showed how I was spending my time and which activities made me feel a certain way. I try to spend a lot of time outside, make an effort to exercise. But I was shocked at how few times the app caught me doing those things; and how often it caught me doing things that didn’t give me a lot of satisfaction. Things like commuting or doing chores.

One of the things I found out was that most people are not that happy when they are at work. They’re happiest when they are on vacations, with friends, making or listening to music. One of the surprising finds was that they’re also very, very happy when they are outside.

0:00
|
1:07
FOREST BATHING Nature writer David Gessner tries forest bathing, a relatively new practice in which all of your senses are immersed in nature.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Where to Travel if You’re Obsessed With Zombies
How This 23-Foot Python Swallowed a Man Whole
Underrated Mediterranean Destinations to Visit Right Now
The epidemic dislocation from the outdoors, as I call it, has been occurring for the last several decades but has gone very little remarked upon. Children, adults, we are all spending vastly less amounts of time outside than we used to. For example, 70 percent of today’s mothers in the U.S. recalled playing outdoors every day as children but only 26 percent of them say their kids play outside daily. That’s a huge change. After school, kids used to come home, meet up with their friends, and go run around the neighborhood. I used to do that. Now kids are totally scheduled. If they are outside, it’s with adults in some organized sporting activity. There’s not that free, exploratory play that a lot of experts think children need in order to gain a strong sense of themselves and learn social skills and problem solving.

You write, “Science is now bearing out what the Romantic poets knew to be true.” Tell us what the latest neuroscience is telling us about the therapeutic effects of nature.

The Romantic poets emerged during the dawn of industrialization. They saw tremendous benefits to being in places that weren’t crowded or dirty, that were more pastoral, like the Alps. The alpine tour took off in the late 18th century to early 19th century. What was unique about it was that it wasn’t about finding peace in God or finding religion. It was about this more immediate connection to nature and how that spurred our spiritual imaginations, how being in more rural, natural environments made us whole as people. You see it in writers like Wordsworth, Coleridge, or Rousseau but also in novelists, like Jane Austen, whose heroines always go marching out when they’re upset or need to work something out.

Today, technology is allowing neuroscientists to take some of their measurement devices into the field, like these portable EEG units that are capable of measuring brain waves, away from the lab. Neuroscientists, especially in the U.K. and U.S., are starting to look at how people’s brains respond to different environments. What they’re seeing is that if their volunteers are walking through a city or noisy area, their brains are doing different things than if they are walking in a park. The frontal lobe, the part of our brain that’s hyper-engaged in modern life, deactivates a little when you are outside. Alpha waves, which indicate a calm but alert state, grow stronger. When psychologists talk about flow there seems to be a lot of alpha engagement there. Buddhist monks, meditators, are also great at engaging alpha waves.

VIEW IMAGES
Frederick Law Olmsted designed Central Park in New York City to provide access to nature for all the city's residents.
PHOTOGRAPH BY SIMON ROBERTS, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
A study in Illinois even showed that proximity to nature can lower the murder rate. Do we just need to plant trees and we can dispense with cops?

[Laughs] In Illinois, Frances Kuo looked at housing projects with a lot of trees versus those without trees, and she found a lower crime rate and lower rates of aggression. She thought that exposure to nature was an indirect but still significant effect. It wasn’t necessarily because the trees were causing people to be less violent. It was that living in a place with trees created an environment where neighbors spent more time outside, hanging out in their courtyards, talking to each other. These social connections were facilitated by green space. It’s a very interesting and under-recognized aspect of green space.

One of the pioneers of urban parks was Frederick Law Olmsted. He’s one of your heroes, isn’t it?

He is! He was kind of like Zelig; he kept showing up in significant parts of American history. He was a journalist for a while and spent time in the pre-Civil War South documenting slavery. He made some very cogent arguments against it, and was one of the first people to do that for a major newspaper. As a restless child, he didn't like school but he loved trees and tramping through the countryside. Later, while spending time in California working as a mining engineer, he saw Yosemite and made some of the first, most cogent arguments about why Yosemite should be protected.

Then, of course, he designed Central Park, one of the most famous parks in the world, and went on to design city parks all over the U.S.. What he did that was different and significant was that he recognized that people needed nature in order to get along with one another, in order to be their best selves, that it was a place where people could let off steam, especially the working classes, who normally didn’t have access to green spaces. Beautiful parks were the preserve of the gentry and Olmstead recognized that there was a class injustice with regard to access to beautiful spaces. He had a social mission to create parks that could be used by all people, which is a fundamentally democratic idea. He distributed flyers to doctors’ offices in poor neighborhoods all over New York City telling doctors: Please tell your patients to go to Central Park because it will help them feel better! [Laughs] He was way ahead of his time!

VIEW IMAGES
Bukhansan National Park is within sight of Seoul, South Korea, a quick trip for hikers seeking an escape from hectic urban life.
PHOTOGRAPH BY LUCAS FOGLIA, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
In Japan, people do something called shinrin yoku, or “forest bathing.” Tell us about Yoshifumi Miyazaki and the health benefits of this practice.

[Laughs] It’s not exactly a bath. Forest bathing refers to being in an environment where all your senses are engaged. Something researchers in Japan recognized about urban life is that when we are indoors we rely mostly on our eyes and ears, but our other senses are underutilized. They think this is partly related to why outdoor environments make our stress levels go down. We can hear the sound of a creek gurgling, feel the wind blowing on our cheeks or smell the aroma of the woods, especially in Japan where there are lots of wondrous cypress trees.

Our sensory system evolved in the natural world and when we’re in those spaces, our brains become relaxed because these are things that we were designed to look at, hear and to smell. Miyazaki is one of the researchers who are trying to quantify this kind of mystical experience by measuring people’s heart rates, blood pressure, and cortisol levels. They have made some amazing discoveries. For instance, our immune cells, or “natural killer cells,” which fight cancer, increase in forests. As a result, Japan now has 48 therapy trails. The forest service is taking this seriously, as a public health benefit. They’re medicalizing the forest!

Soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan sometimes suffer from severe PTSD. Tell us about the river-rafting trip you did with a program called Higher Ground.

It’s one of the neatest things I’ve ever done. I was invited on an all-women’s rafting trip for six days down the Salmon River, in the middle of the largest wilderness area in the lower 48, continental U.S. The participants were all veterans from various U.S. wars; some were older, some younger women, some had been in combat inadvertently because they had been driving convoys on roads that were filled with bombs. Some had experienced what we call “military sexual trauma,” or MST, which unfortunately is very common.

They suffered from a range of physical and also severe psychological wounds. Some hadn’t left their homes in months or suffered from tremendous anxiety and depression, yet they were brave, tough women who had been in the armed services. Here was an opportunity for them to be together and experience nature. At the beginning, they were very withdrawn and angry. So I could watch them come out of their shells as the days went by. They told me they were sleeping better than they had slept in months, laughing with each other and gaining renewed confidence in their physical abilities because they were paddling these inflatable kayaks, doing things independently, which they hadn’t done in a long time. They were also in an environment that was calm and visually interesting. So they were able to bond with each other, socially, which is something the wilderness provides. It was potentially life-altering experience for them. And it was great for me, too.

VIEW IMAGES
In Singapore, new skyscrapers must incorporate greenery and Gardens by the Bay (above) is a major attraction.
PHOTOGRAPH BY LUCAS FOGLIA, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
Tell us about “the nature pyramid” and other practical strategies you can pass on to our readers to use to get a bit more nature into our lives?

The nature pyramid is the idea that nature is something we have every day. One of the things we’re recognizing is that, like other medicines, nature follows a dose curve. A little bit of nature is helpful; a little more nature is even more helpful. If we think about how to access a little bit of nature in our daily lives, that’s a great start: house plants, going for walks on streets with trees and, as you move further up the pyramid, making an effort maybe once a month to go to a nature preserve or park outside the city. We are so fortunate in America. We have these incredible wilderness spaces and national parks, and science is showing that when we spend time in those spaces, it can be tremendously helpful for our sense of self, for problem solving, social bonding, and rites of passage.

In Finland, public health officials now recommend that citizens get 5 hours a month, minimum, in the woods, in order to stave off depression. This is evidence-based. They found that people need this time in order to preserve their mental health. A lot of Asian countries have also figured out that nature should be a fundamental part of democracy; that it’s a human right and a necessity. They try to incorporate nature into the fabric of everyday urban life. Nature isn’t something apart from city life. Nature is a part of it. In Singapore, they have the City In A Garden concept. You can’t build a skyscraper now without incorporating greenery on to the building itself! People have gardens on the roofs or on walls. Public housing projects have beautiful courtyards. I found that very impressive!

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Simon Worrall curates Book Talk. Follow him on Twitter or at simonworrallauthor.com.
Sign up for more inspiring photos, stories, and special offers from National Geographic:

View our Privacy Policy.

COMMENT
THE DESPERATE EFFORT TO CONTROL THE ZIKA VIRUS IN BRAZIL 1 / 13
Picture of mother Mylene Helena Ferreira holds her son David Henrique Ferreira
VICTIMSA woman in Recife, Brazil, holds an infant with microcephaly. Researchers suspect that this type of birth defect may be caused by a Zika virus infection in pregnant women.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIO TAMA, GETTY IMAGES
MILITARY RESPONSESoldiers are fanning out across Recife, warning people of the dangers of Zika and removing sources of stagnant water where mosquitoes can breed.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIO, TAMA, GETTY IMAGES
VIGILANCEA soldier makes notes during an inspection in Recife, in a growing battle against Zika.
PHOTOGRAPHBY MARIO TAMA, GETTY IMAGES
MOSQUITO NETSNets can be effective barriers against mosquitoes, but they require vigilance.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIO TAMA, GETTY IMAGES
OPEN WATERWater can be refreshing, but it can also serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIO TAMA, GETTY IMAGES
CHECKUPA doctor examines a baby in Recife. Fears run high as scientists try to better understand the risks posed by the Zika virus.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIO TAMA, GETTY IMAGES
SCREENINGScientists are studying a possible link between Zika virus infections in pregnant women and small head size in newborns, which may cause cognitive disabilities.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIO TAMA, GETTY IMAGES
PATROLPernambuco state in northeastern Brazil has reported about a third of the country's cases of Zika virus infection.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIO TAMA, GETTY IMAGES
STREET LIFEMany residents of Recife can't afford air conditioning, so they spend long hours outdoors. That can put them into closer contact with mosquitoes.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIO TAMA, GETTY IMAGES
FAMILY WORRIESPregnant women and families with small children face uncertainty as the virus spreads. "Those that have lost loved ones are devastated," says Tama.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIO TAMA, GETTY IMAGES
UNCERTAIN FUTUREAs public health leaders around the world call for a big push to study the disease, the future remains unclear.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIO TAMA, GETTY IMAGES
STREET PATROLHealth workers are working desperately in Recife.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIO TAMA, GETTY IMAGES
BIG JOBEradicating mosquitoes from town is no easy task.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIO TAMA, GETTY IMAGES
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
MAGAZINE
Seven Things to Know About Climate Change
It’s not a myth, a hoax, or a conspiracy among scientists. As we argue about the path we take, let’s recall the facts that...
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
SpaceX Makes History With First-Ever Recycled Rocket
A booster that flew to space last year made the trip again and returned to Earth, marking a major step on the...
Pictures Show a Mysterious Planet Get More Surreal Over Time
Since arriving at Jupiter last July, the Juno spacecraft has been beaming back artistic and unusual views of the “king...
COMMENT ON THIS STORY
SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTERS

SIGN UP
We will never share your e-mail address unless you allow us to do so. View our privacy policy. Easy unsubscribe links are provided in every email.
Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society.
Copyright © 2015-2017 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved
FOLLOW US

TERMS OF SERVICEPRIVACY POLICYCUSTOMER SERVICEJOBS

Some grumpy people up there.

Maybe you need to get outside

TLDR

That's because you're **cking lazy... I mean not even a brief synopsis?

Then again you wrote "RTFT" I'm not even sure what that means in TXT SPK I guess you're 13.

& you're a grumpy ass getting his kicks starting fights on a bike forum.

How's that going for you?

Sustaining?

Fulfilling?

Life enhancing?

Something you'll look back on fondly one day?

I doubt it, but hey each to their own.

Enjoy your w/e I'm sure it'll be as shite & as moody as your current disposition!

Can I suggest getting out on your bike.....you might feel better....if you'd taken the time to read the article rather than write moody replies you might....MIGHT...understand why you feel better for it & then go looking for more of the same ergo enriching your life...

(Maybe you'll stop picking fights on the internet....)

& you're a grumpy ass getting his kicks starting fights on a bike forum.

How's that going for you?

Sustaining?

Fulfilling?

Life enhancing?

Something you'll look back on fondly one day?

I doubt it, but hey each to their own.

Enjoy your w/e I'm sure it'll be as shite & as moody as your current disposition!

Can I suggest getting out on your bike.....you might feel better....if you'd taken the time to read the article rather than write moody replies you might....MIGHT...understand why you feel better for it & then go looking for more of the same ergo enriching your life...

(Maybe you'll stop picking fights on the internet....)

Haha really? (you came in all guns blazing)

I've been surfing all day because I didn't really fancy working

I think you're the one who's highly strung sweetheart!

sweetheart!

I love it when you talk dirty..

Have you read the article yet babe?

Come on people, be nice :), or perhaps you want to take it outside? 😆

Bloody obvious we are all wired to prefer being in nature, or at the least I'm most definately wired to prefer being out in nature - these days i friggin hate built up areas with a passion.

I had a ticket for depeche mode in glasgow last sunday night but i didn't bother going as the weather was far too nice on sunday morning/afternoon to spend it driving up to glasgow, I spent the entire day up at Clatteringshaws/blackhill bothy in the Galloway hills with the dog, my bike and my camping/cooking equipment along with blue skies and no other folk for miles around. I had been up at Glasgow the previous monday for an MRI scan and i had planned on going into the Apple store as I wanted to check out the apple watch but on driving back into the city from the Royal Jubilee in Dumbarton i realised i **** hate the city and couldn't wait to get out so i just carried on down the road in the van and took the bike round Loch Doon on the way home

Nope, city's and large towns freak me right out, i need trees, hills, and open countryside so it's just as well i stay in Galloway where it is deserted and bereft of human population.

The. Best. Song. Ever.

(IMHO of course - the last song they performed live as a band, and they were a fantastic band.)

I think the problem is that it sounded a bit hip. "We are wired" sounds a bit like "We are stoked" or whatever, whereas it really meant "we are wired up to."..... which of course makes sense. Billions of years of evolution hasn't been in order to suit us for life in a call centre.

I think the problem is that it sounded a bit hip. "We are wired" sounds a bit like "We are stoked" or whatever, whereas it really meant "we are wired up to."..... which of course makes sense. Billions of years of evolution hasn't been in order to suit us for life in a call centre.

If you scratch beneath the surface it's very apt though isn't?

Point being is understanding cause & effect, then using that knowledge to change & improve ones life.

I think it's valuable knowledge.

Nope, city's and large towns freak me right out, i need trees, hills, and open countryside so it's just as well i stay in Galloway where it is deserted and bereft of human population.

Either I am you, or you are me.

I think it's valuable knowledge.

Playing devils advocate a little.

But it would have handy if you'd shared a bit of that perceived knowledge in the opening post. Nothing too extensive just a paragraph of two giving a basic summary of content. There's a tremendous amount of utter shite posted on the internet if we clicked through on every "this is amazeballs" post our various internet devices would be riddled with viruses and that's before you get to time wasted on click bait etc.

(IMHO of course - the last song they performed live as a band, and they were a fantastic band.)

Didn't realise they'd split up. I only have Tales From Terra Firma - excellent album.

As for the OP: he seems to be telling to enjoy nature by requiring me to read an article on the internet.....

(Oh and if we're so "wired", then how come we continue to grow the size of our cities around the world..?)

[img] [/img]
Have we all worked out if we are inside or outside people yet?

Jesus some of you lot could start an argument in an empty room. Kind of why I mostly stopped coming here.

Oh, and I think you meant narcissistic not nihilistic. 😉

I can't believe what happened next.

A few words of your thoughts in the post is nice rather just a link.

Nice article though.

As for the OP: he seems to be telling to enjoy nature by requiring me to read an article on the internet.....

Uh, no....

The article is about why you feel better when you're outside.

Nowt to do with with your "observation"..

Maybe I should have put a few lines in....but then how hard is it to read an article yourself?

My other thought is that if folks have that a high level of fear regarding click bait & amazeballs, perhaps they should put their device down a little more often.....& get outside instead?

Oh and if we're so "wired", then how come we continue to grow the size of our cities around the world..?

palmer77 - Member
Come on people, be nice :), or perhaps you want to take it outside?

LOLZ . That is text speak for laugh out loud, plus a z.

Not so sure that we were wired to be outside, otherwise cavemen would have been beaten in the evolutionary race by fieldmen. From there on in, it's all about home (cave) improvements until we get to the point where we are now. Lazy, sedantary, addicted to tech, but warm.

perhaps they should put their device down a little more often.....& get outside instead?

Perhaps you should make less assumptions 😛

I like being outside.
I like being inside too.

Is that wrong?

Have we all worked out if we are inside or outside people yet?

There's a couple of guys who appear to be needing a room.

We've just been on a rally in the centre of Manchester to save the greenbelt land. Greedy developers want to take the easy route, rather than develope brownfield sites first.
It took a bit of courage for me as I don't like cities and need to be out in open, green places.

I believe we are wired to be outside.
So many reasons, nature, fresh air, calming, less stressful, especially in green places.

Perhaps you should make less assumptions

Perhaps it was a correct assumption?

You'll also note that I finished my sentence with a question mark thus turning it into a question ergo not an assumption..

The point being....the science shows that we are calmer & happier the more we connect with nature. Why do you think folks enjoy going to the park? Particularly those who live in urban areas.

Take out of the article whatever you chose, but I know what works for me. I now also know why it works for me meaning I can find ways to introduce more of the same into my life.

This will blow your mind - there's no wires init!!!

I read the article, it struck me it was basically a puff piece designed to encourage people to download an app that would use technology to prod them into doing what seems like common bloody sense, and which a great many people do naturally anyway.
Colour me cynical...

Sorry, forgot to do this obvious link a few days ago! 😆