Why you should go outside

As I’m sitting at home on a wet, chilly December morning, I’m reading a newsletter that’ says:

• A typical American adult spends 93% of their time indoors
• US adults are sedentary 9.5 hrs/day (mostly sitting)
• 13 hrs/day are spent consuming digital media

These numbers are staggering, and quite honestly, sad. What happened to the real human connection not just with nature but with other people?

There are many people who think it’s completely normal to do everything indoors. The least amount of time “wasted” outdoors the better. Outdoors is unpredictable: Too cold or too hot, too wet or too dry, dangerous, complicated, whatever. Instead people are willing to strap themselves to machines for hours to exercise in virtual worlds for the sake of convenience and safety. A recent article in New York Times about a very privileged group of people who compete in Ironman races and can afford to pay a hefty fee to be pampered through the experience, reads like a snapshot of our current society: If you have worked hard and made yourself really rich in the process, we believe that life’s inconveniences and hard edges can be completely removed or at least vastly smoothed over without consequences. The truth is, however, that being uncomfortable is a critical, and very real part of human life experience, and spending time in nature is at the core of this experience. Whatever virtual thing you have going on indoors is just that, virtual, a make-believe. And since it’s usually tied to some kind of tech gadget, it’s bound to cause more stress by artificially stimulating your brain while increasing your addiction to technology without making you any healthier in the long term.

There’s more to life than closing your rings

We’re inherently wired to be in nature. A mountain of evidence links regular exposure to nature and outdoors with good health outcomes both physical and mental. In addition, the best source for vitamin D (or hormone if we want to be completely accurate), is direct sunlight. Vitamin D deficiency is on the rise, and it is linked to cardiovascular disease, cancer, autoimmune diseases and depression, among other things.

Yet more and more people are happy to take a pill and run on an endless loop on a treadmill than to go outside. They have become so disconnected from nature, and in the same process from their own body, that they can’t exercise without some kind of technology constantly telling them what to do and how to do it. If their smart watch or bike computer suddenly stops working, they’re worried that the workout is ruined or worse still, no one will know about it. But even the best technology is fallible, and it can’t tell you how you feel.

The only thing you can truly trust is your own body. If you’re exercising to reach a certain activity percentage, step count or number of calories, you’ve lost the fundamental point of exercise: To find flow and joy in the physical movement. Staring at a screen isn’t going to bring you happiness and health, it could be quite the opposite in fact. Unless you’re an elite athlete trying to reach the very top of your sport, most of the data you’re bombarded with from your wearables is useless clutter in your brain. Real health and happiness can only be found in a natural, boundless outdoor environment. To be in nature is to be human, present and connected to others and to ourselves.