I chose this picture to highlight how the Norwegian government attempts to facilitate our use of nature recreationally. For many Norwegians, having access to and using nature recreationally is synonymous with a higher quality of life. This increase in quality of life can be connected to two main proponents, the positive effect on mental health and the positive effect on physical health (Ministry of the Environment, 2009).
I think that there are many facets of using nature as such that makes it an excellent de-stressing activity. There is of course the obvious one that is that you are not directly engaging in work or other potentially stressing activities. But in addition, by being out in nature you are not only allowing yourself to be in a different environment. There are aspects of being out in the nature that in of itself forces you to be attentive of your surroundings. Whether this be the rough terrain in the forest or mountains or even sounds like birds chirping and twigs snapping, all these things will to some extent facilitate some mindfulness of your surroundings that might assist you in not spending an unhealthy amount of time thinking about work and other stressors.
There are many different ways that we use nature recreationally, such as hiking, camping, training and being with friends and family. All these activities in nature will as mentioned give us a break from the stressors that we are exposed to in our everyday lives.
What we do see is that some of the long term effects of stress are things such as cardiovascular disease, upper respiratory diseases and many other illnesses (Schneidermann, Ironson, & Siegel, 2005), with this in mind there is no doubt that long term stress comes at a high cost on our welfare system. When there is an opportunity to ease this burden which at the same time in principle is free to use, then the right thing to do is to inform as many as possible of this and to make sure as many people as possible has access to this.
Something to have in mind then is whether to invest in an approach that caters to the minority that is the most vulnerable or cater to the majority. Going for one of the approaches does of course not exclude the other, and one of the approaches that can cater to the majority is establishing relatively easy access to nature.
However, our recreational use of nature is built on the premise that we have access to it. It is with this premise in mind that the Norwegian government has established a national strategy for an active outdoor life. In this strategy the Norwegian government has put forth an ambition that everyone will be within 500 meters to access to nature or transportation to nature (Nasjonal strategi for et aktivt friluftsliv – en satsing på friluftsliv i hverdagen; 2014-2020, 2014).
As we see, this is one of
several strategies that the Norwegian government makes use of that can have an
pre-emptive effect on easing the burden on our health sector.
Sources:
Ministry of the Environment. (2009). The nature experience and mental health. Oslo: Ministry of the Environment.
(2014). Nasjonal strategi for et aktivt friluftsliv – en satsing på friluftsliv i hverdagen; 2014-2020. Oslo: Miljøverndepartementet.
Schneidermann, N., Ironson, G., & Siegel, S. D. (2005, April 27). Stress and helath: Psychological, Behavioral, and Biological Determinants. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, ss. 607-628.
One thought on “Ewart, Lars Andrew “Keeping close to nature””
Good Day,
In terms of the assignment, the text correlates well with the image that was used. I enjoyed reading the article, but there are a few minor details that could be changed. These details are as follows:
Paragraph 1:
– The sentence structure and word use is exceptional, but have you considered mentioning what the positive mental and physical aspects are that nature provides us with?
Paragraph 2, Line 2:
I think you should try using “potentially stressful activities” instead of “potentially stressing activities”
Paragraph 2, Line 3:
– “by being out in nature you are not only allowing yourself to be in a different environment” I’m not too sure if its supposed to say “not” allowing yourself to be in a different environment when in fact it does allow for a new environment.
Paragraph 4:
– Mention what burden you are trying to ease. Is it the burden of the cost of the welfare system or the burden that is the disease.
– Have you considered adding that daily exercise, such as walking or running while in the vicinity of nature allows for an increase in cardiovascular health as well as overall health.
Paragraph 5:
– How does it cater for the minority?
The text links very well with the image. I like that the thinking behind this was out of the box and it ranged further and deeper into how a health care system can be bettered without the idea of bettering medical care facilities. Overall, the idea was well thought out and the message was brought across very clearly.