Over the past year, our lives have seen extensive changes which have led to many of us feeling a sense of exhaustion and burnout. Pandemic fatigue can result not only in low productivity, anxiety, and stress for Everyone. We now spend our days looking at a screen, with a great deal of our communication taking place via video calls. This has led to what has been termed “zoom fatigue”, where our brains are exhausted from over stimulation. Physiological responses to viewing nature support the usefulness of nature therapy for preventive medicine.
Being in nature, or even viewing scenes of nature, reduces anger, fear, and stress and increases pleasant feelings. Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones.