There is only so much daily grind a person can take before it comes to a point where you must step back and take a break. Days upon days of mentally tasking efforts will wear a body down fast. While most of us have discovered different ways to cope and decompress, one of the best ways for continued mental health is nature walks and camping beneath the stars.
The Freedom to Have an Adventure
Another beneficial aspect of camping is the sense of freedom you get each day. When you get up and stoke your campfire, you are the day’s tour guide. You have the unique pleasure of setting boundaries and creating your adventures. If you feel like exploring a place you’ve never been before, the choice is entirely up to you.
There are no limitations and restrictions on what you need to do and when you need to do it. Camping is one of the best and most fascinating ways to press the reset button and get lost in the peaceful setting of nature.
Of course, if your new adventure poses the risk of meeting some of the countryside’s less-friendly animal inhabitants, you may want to consider having a firearm for protection. If you are looking for an AR15 complete upper, there are a variety of websites to choose from.
Achieving Zen Naturally
As any nature enthusiast will tell you, surrounding yourself with nature’s elements is a psychological plus. For those who strive in a city environment, camping and communing with nature reinforces lead to better mental health that protective mental health layer that many of us are missing.
Whatever stress you have will soon melt away, replaced by the awe-inspiring forests, lakes, and woodland creatures a camper gets to experience. Camping is a natural way to rejuvenate and recharge mentally. As many enthusiasts will tell you, it’s the best natural way to achieve Zen.
You Don’t Have to be a Botanist
Camping in nature and being one with nature doesn’t mean you have to be a botanist. You don’t have to know what each piece of flora is to recognize how beautiful it is. You may not have the capacity to discern a redwood from a poplar tree, but you can study the leaves and the bark formations and intricate detail.
You can immerse yourself in studying all the different patterns of sunlight filtering through the branches to the ground and listen to the sounds of breezes swaying through the branches.
The science of mental rejuvenation as you study the environment around you is the real deal. A few days spent camping are known to reduce stress, lower blood pressure, lessen mood swings, and help you sleep.
Digital Cleansing
It’s one thing to commune with nature on a camping trip, but your efforts to achieve Zen are sure to be hampered if you choose to sit in your tent and complain about spotty Wi-Fi coverage.
Camping is a time for you and nature to reacquaint. Those emails will still be in your inbox when you depart nature and reenter the land of the concrete jungle. You should be enjoying nature, not laughing at a bunny gif your friend just sent, and constantly scrolling up to see the latest meme.
The same goes for your children, especially if they spend most of their time on computers or video games. A calm and tranquil setting helps their brains release serotonin, also known as the “Happy” chemical. There’s no better way to adjust a grumpy child’s mood swings than with a bit of wilderness therapy.
Camping and mental health quickly become synonymous when you leave the digital world behind and immerse yourself in the beauty of a natural setting.
Making Your Exercise Green
If you’re going on long hikes or blazing new trails, the exercise you perform in a natural setting is an excellent way to eliminate depression and anxiety. What you ultimately get from all your green activities is a more positive outlook.
Any exercise performed in the great outdoors will pave the way toward positive mental health, especially those performed during a camping trip. Not to tarry long on the colors of exercise but combining the exercises in green surroundings such as a forest and a blue environment such as a lake provides the best calming effect.
Pace Yourself
Although camping is one of the best activities for better mental health, it can also put a tremendous mental strain on you if you try to do too much too fast.
Start with a one or two-day camping trip. During those sessions, whatever you do, go slow. Set a pace that’s doable for you and your fellow campers. Setting a frenetic pace will do nothing for you except work yourself to near-exhaustion.
If you’re rushing about, you’ve probably forgotten what you went camping for in the first place. It’s a time to get one with your surroundings. It’s time to achieve Zen.
Remember, your camping area is supposed to be a stress-free zone, not a battlefield of frenzied activity. You will not enjoy the lovely scenery around you very much if you spend your time rushing to find just the right spot to camp before the sun goes down.
Camp Out for Your Mental Health
Camping provides many benefits, which all lead to better mental health. It improves focus and helps cognitive thinking ability. It can strengthen family bonds and supply your children with improved self-esteem when they accomplish a task in a no-pressure setting.
When performed in this no-pressure environment, camping will reduce levels of anger. Camping also helps you and your fellow campers stay physically fit, which helps provide a more increased sense of well-being.
If your world of nine-to-five is a place filled with computer screens, stressful working lunch meetings, and clients who demand all your attention simultaneously, then you need to consider taking a mental health day or two.
Pack the tent and your camping gear and head to that one spot in the woods where you know it will just be you and nature. Spend your day staring at the trees as the branches sway in the breeze or the shimmering waters of a nearby lake.
Find yourself again. Your mental health will thank you for it.