The Nature Connection

Why it's important

Albert Einstein once said “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” We all know the feeling we get after connecting with nature – whether it be from a blissful walk on the beach to de-stress, or the camping holiday that had us return to our daily routine with a heightened sense of focus, perspective and reinvigoration. Natalie Cyra explains why the need to venture into nature more regularly is so imperative, and beneficial to our health.

– the land of the long white cloud – a country known all over the world for its spectacular landscapes and clean, green spaces. New Zealanders have long had a strong connection with our natural world – a unique connection that helps to give us our Kiwi identity. We display our national symbol, a native fern, with pride, and we’re colloquially named after an endemic bird. We wear an ancient river stone, the pounamu (greenstone) around our necks as a symbol of strength, prosperity and connection to our land, and many of our national heroes hail from outdoor pursuits – from mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary to thrill-seeker A. J. Hackett. Kiwis are often known as folk who love adventure and getting out amongst nature.

One could assume that being so blessed with what lies in our own backyard – the beaches, mountain ranges, lush bush and tranquil parks – Kiwis take the opportunity to connect with nature whenever possible. However, an increasingly built-up environment coupled with expanding urbanisation has resulted in more people living in cities with fewer opportunities to access nature, says the Ministry of Health’s Principal Advisor for Public Health, Nutrition and Physical Activity, Harriette Carr. In addition, technological changes and developments at work and at home, including labour-saving devices (remote controls, smart devices, dryers and vehicle convenience) are further encouraging and supporting a more sedentary lifestyle.

With our days now revolving around ticking off that ever-expanding to-do list, reconnecting with nature is more important than ever, not just for our physical health but also for our wellbeing. Whether that looks like a walk or run before work, or an afternoon spent tending to the garden, doing activities outside ease us back to our natural state of peace, happiness and calmness, says Auckland-based wellness and mindfulness expert Nikki Ralston. She recently taught yoga at the Wanderlust Festival in Taupo, and led a group hike which included picking wild blackberries to enjoy in the moment.

Ralston says although as a nation we are working longer hours, are more urban-dwelling and collectively we are more technology-dependent, making regular connection with our natural environment needn’t be difficult.

“Even in the middle of the city, there might be construction and traffic noise, but if you really tune in and listen, you’ll hear the cicadas, you’ll hear the birdsong. Close your eyes and listen to the sounds. That connection is still there, we just have to work a little harder to find it,” she says. New research reported in the British Journal of Sports

Medicine suggests that spending time in nature makes us happier and more relaxed. The research found that being amongst the natural environment causes electrochemical changes in the brain, leading people to enter a highly beneficial state of ‘effortless attention'.

UK researchers from the study fitted mobile electrodes to subjects’ heads, who walked through three different environments: an urban shopping district, a lush, green park and a busy commercial zone. When moving through the green park, brain-wave activity indicated subjects entered relaxed and higher meditative states – as well as having lower frustration levels and lower 'engagement and arousal'. Opposite reactions were recorded when the subjects entered the other environments. The researchers concluded that the mental benefit, a state of happiness, occurs in individuals who are engaged in play, exploration, or other discovery-type activities.

Even the simple action of stepping outside on your lunch break, taking your shoes off and making the physical connection with the earth is good for you, says Ralston, restoring mental balance and resetting your focus before returning to work. Being outside also provides an important source of vitamin D, which is imperative for optimising bone health and muscle function, adds Carr.

While we would concur a tropical island mini-break is the ideal option for clearing the mind and returning to work with greater energy and focus, studies have actually shown that just gazing at nature – whether it be through the window or within a piece of art – can improve our concentration and productivity levels. Research from Melbourne, and published in the Harvard Business

Review, involved 150 participants who were given the task of hitting specific keystrokes when certain numbers flashed on a computer screen, and after five minutes they were given a 40-second break. During the break, half of the subjects were shown an image of a concrete rooftop surrounded by tall buildings, while the other half were shown an image of a roof covered with flowering greenery. When the task resumed, concentration levels fell by eight per cent from those given the concrete roof image, compared to a rise of six per cent in concentration levels by those given the green roof to observe. The study concluded that engaging in these green ‘microbreaks’ can help improve workplace attention and performance.

Nature for mental health

Research is growing exponentially that proves nature can provide a mental health boost – but also for creating longer-term preventative factors – decreasing the risk of stress, anxiety, and depression, says acting Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation Hugh Norriss.

“Nature can also help aid the recovery and rehabilitation of patients by acting as an anti-depressant,” he says.

Norriss has been leading the collaboration between the Mental Health Foundation (MHF) and the Department of Conservation (DOC) – a partnership which will develop projects to improve mental health and wellbeing and benefit conservation efforts across the country. The projects and goals will be based around the MHF’s ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’.

DOC has also started work on the ‘Healthy Nature Healthy People’ initiative, which aims to create a movement which will draw all sorts of people, groups and agencies together to reconnect people to nature with recreational and conservation opportunities.

“As a nation and globally there is growing evidence and awareness that we are not flourishing. The irony is that we are burdened with lifestyle-related illnesses while trying to improve our lifestyles,” says DOC’s Project Coordinator Helen Gillespie.

“Nature is the under-utilised health resource of today. It’s free and accessible and is within everyone’s reach. There’s a bit of wild in us all and it is important now more than ever to reconnect with our wild side. Lower blood pressure and cortisol, improve mood, reduce crime rates, build social connection, reduce medication, improve productivity and post-operative recovery rates. What’s to lose?”, she says.

DOC also commissioned Lin Roberts, a senior lecturer for the Department of Environmental Management and her colleagues at Lincoln University in Canterbury, to create a research report called

The Wellbeing of Nature. The report explains that being involved with others in activities and sharing particular experiences with them develops the bonds that tie people together in society, enhancing feelings of connectedness, trust, mutual obligation and belonging. New Zealand’s natural spaces provide a wide range of settings for shared activities such as tramping, climbing, sailing, swimming, picnicking, walking and cycling.

“Our connection or reconnection to nature has always been important but it’s more a fact that we have lost touch with it, or that we have lost sight of how important it is in terms of how our whole wellbeing depends on it,” says Roberts.

Roberts also adds that the connotation of money buying happiness is misguided.

“Essentially, money can make you happy up to a certain point. The happiness research is now showing very clearly that things that are most valuable to our happiness and wellbeing are things like spending time with other people, spending time in nature and feeling gratitude,” she says. “Those prescriptions like ‘go and take a walk in the bush’ will do more for you than working extra hours to get more money so you can buy more stuff. We’re losing connection with the system that is supporting us.”

One of the first studies Roberts looked into while conducting her research was from London, where researchers measured the heart rates of participants who stepped into a green space. Within minutes of stepping into that space, heart rates dropped, and in turn participants became more relaxed.

“So you could conclude that people who live in areas lacking green spaces are much more at risk of unrest and unhappiness,” Roberts says.

Rapid urbanisation – and the solutions

In an article titled Can you prescribe nature? from the BBC, Gregory Bratman of Stanford University points out that moving to cities has “happened in a blink of an eye in terms of human evolution”. In fact, already 50 per cent of the global population lives in towns and cities; a figure that is projected to rise to 70 per cent by 2050.

This has led to many cities and nations thinking about the mental health benefits of nature when designing urban areas.

“We’re thinking about incorporating nature into urban spaces in terms of the rebuild of Christchurch,” says Roberts. “There was a large ‘share an idea’ initiative within months of the 2011 February quake run by the city council and thousands of Christchurch residents expressed what they wanted in terms of the rebuild. A recurring theme was more green spaces, cycleways, and green roofs – so I think there’s becoming a very strong awareness that these are the sorts of things that are really valued,” she says.

The recent Harbourview Sculpture Trail on Auckland’s Te Atatu Peninsula is another case of urbanisation connecting with nature. Forty sculptures were installed amongst the tranquil wetland site at Harbourview Peoples Park, encouraging the local community and visitors to peruse the area while enjoying a unique art exhibition. Many of the pieces were also motifs representing our expanding connectiveness to technology, including Disconnect by Philippa Kenny. The piece challenges viewers to look outward and be more mindful of the greater things around us. It poses the question ‘are we really as present as we think we are?’

Roberts adds that the planet isn’t growing but our population and demands on it are. “If we want to continue to prosper on this planet we need to start working out how to live within the limits of nature and

“Nature is the under- utilised health resource of today. It's free and accessible." Helen Gillespie

what it can provide us with, and part of that is helping people recognise how valuable nature is to them.”

Spending time in nature can be an extraordinarily restorative experience, not just to reenergise, but to give us perspective on our lives and our current priorities. Ron Marriott has owned and operated Wilderness Park in Queen Charlotte Town since 1996, a 650-hectare property with the nearest neighbours being a six-hour walk away. Wilderness Park is all about turning off from the connected world – there is no television, internet, radio. Wilderness Park also runs its own scheme for people to take part in regrowing a part of the forest system there – a unique opportunity for people who live in dense urban and city areas.

Observing the experiences of his visitors is both interesting and enlightening for Marriott. “These are just ordinary people who come in the door from mostly urban areas and nature gets to work on them. For the majority, it does have quite an effect. We don’t have anyone stay for less than two days.

"Soon enough, they start looking around and observing their surroundings, and from these observations come questions, and once those questions are answered they can have all sorts of reactions. They go away from their experience more spiritually connected and a little or a lot more thoughtful on what nature provides for us: food, air, shelter.”

Marriott says a recent visitor also had a moment of clarity in terms of her perspective on life. She was an American visitor whose husband had passed away suddenly about three years earlier, and hadn’t been able to deal with the grief, at times contemplating ending her own life. “One night when she was out near the lighthouse in the park, looking at the sky and the vista before her, she realised her life wasn’t over, and that she was gonna get on with it. That was pretty powerful stuff,” says Marriott.

He adds the connectedness with nature and sense of belonging that comes with it is extremely important. “I think once you start to feel a part of nature, that’s where you become happier than you would feel otherwise, because you become part of a group.

"If we feel a part of nature, then that’s a very satisfying feeling, that you’re not alone in the world. I’m looking out my window and I can see the sea and the mountains and the bush. And this is my community, it makes me feel really good because I’m not alone in it,” he says.

Brands making the nature connection

Nature is also a major influence in the creative process for businesses both locally and internationally, who are tapping into the idea of reconnection with the outdoors for the themes of their campaigns. One such business is Kiwi-born Icebreaker, a global outdoor clothing brand fundamentally centred around a natural resource, merino wool. Icebreaker invited media to a summer’s night away in December, to glamp at the secluded, pest-free DOC island of Motuihe.

While there, under a seaside, open-air marquee, Icebreaker introduced their autumn/winter 2016 campaign ‘Live Wild.’ The campaign is inspired by the fact that “people are really wanting to get out and connect back to nature,” says trends forecaster and market insights expert for Icebreaker Tsveti Enlow. “Live Wild is a reminder to us all that we were not designed to be compressed into urban spaces and to be domesticated, we were really designed to fight and take flight and really tap into our wild beings. It’s really important that we start tapping into that and connecting with people at an emotional level to get back to what it is that people really love about being outside, why we yearn to go into the outdoors and the experiences that we’re looking to gain and seek there,” she says.

Wellington-based beauty brand Antipodes has also been drawing inspiration from nature since its inception in 2006. Antipodes use only nature-derived ingredients and founder Elizabeth Barbalich adds that the brand’s aesthetic is inspired by New Zealand’s own unique wallpaper: nature. “We were particularly inspired by the lush native flora and fauna of Wilton bush, a slice of our native heritage near Wellington’s CBD,” she says. Antipodes understands the need to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature – they donated $60,000 from the sales of their Chia & Kiwi Seed Superfood Serum to the New Zealand World Wide Fund for Nature.

'Feeling good' is the new 'looking good', suggests Enlow. This notion interlinks with another important trend, she says: the connection with nature and one’s ‘me time’. “We live in a very connected world, and the more connected we are, the more we have this desire to disconnect and be in nature. We are all looking to collect moments and experiences; we want to do things over buying things. Brands who deliver and enhance the consumer experience are the ones who are winning,” she says.

Connecting consumers with the outdoors in its entirety is at the forefront of footwear company Keen’s philosophy too. Brand manager John Da Silva says Keen is all about delivering footwear that allows you to get out there and explore, whether on the city streets, in the forest or by the lake.

The brand also collaborates with other organisations such as Sustainable Coastlines on projects both here and overseas to raise awareness of protecting our environments. “Protecting the environment is the backbone of our industry, without access to public lands, clean air and water, our industry, and many others, aren’t sustainable. This is why we have to ensure we’re encouraging people to experience and look after the outdoors,” he says.

Day to day, it’s all too easy to get stuck in the fast lane and struggle to slow down. So add this to your task pad: the next time you feel a wave of procrastination come over you in the middle of your work day, or perhaps when you next feel anxious, stressed or like you need to reconsider your priorities – find solace in nature, the birds and the breeze, and you’ll soon start to feel better.

COOL ON CONNECTION What consumers want Icebreaker trends forecaster Tsveti Enlow believes the world we live in is so connected, people would now rather disconnect... We are all looking to collect moments and experiences ... do things over buying things, and the brands who deliver this consumer experience do best.