Increase Your Ingestion of Vitamin “N”!!!

Vitamin “N” you say? Don’t bother to search on the shelves of a health food store or a pharmacy. This vitamin cannot be found in such places. In order to find this vitamin and “ingest” it, one must visit the great outdoors – nature! Fall is the perfect time of year to be outside – not too hot or too cold yet – and yet full of beautiful colors and fresh air. Many of us do not get outside enough – we don’t partake of the free “nature” vitamin. We are Vitamin “N” deficient. The lure of electronics, the belief that our houses need to be spotless, the syndrome of needing to get just one more thing done – all add to this deficiency.

So – what can we do to get more of this fabulous vitamin? Why get out into nature? What are the benefits of doing so? What can it do for our brains and memory? There’s not enough room in any blog to list every advantage but here are some important ones:

• Nature brings our senses alive. We are able to use our sense of smell to the max – flowers, crisp air, trees, mowed lawns, barbeques, etc. Our sense of smell holds more memories than any other of the senses. Being outside helps us to bring up these memories and to make new ones.
• Being inside a great deal often leads to a sense of isolation. Being outside can do the opposite!
• Nature heals – research has found that hospital patients in rooms with a view of trees heal faster than those with no view.
• Nature can build community bonds and family and friends ones as well. Researchers have found that being exposure to nature leads people to nurture close relationships. And – socialization is very necessary for memory enhancement .
• Nature provides a great opportunity for new learning experiences – and we all know that learning new things is GREAT for our memory.
• Nature decreases stress. Just think about relaxation tapes that you might have heard in the past. They all have sounds of nature – water babbling in a brook, birds singing, waves crashing in on the beach, or wind blowing.
• Nature improves mood and combats depression.
• Nature increases our ability to cope with a variety of situations.
• Being outside opens up our eyes to the beauty surrounding us and increases our optimistic attitude.
• Being in nature increases our overall sense of well being.

Lastly and as important as any of the above benefits – our future is at stake. As Richard Louv, author of the Nature Principle states, “ The natural world’s benefits to our cognition and health will be irrelevant if we continue to destroy the nature around us, but that destruction is assured without a human reconnection to nature.”

Hopefully, after reading this blog, you are inspired to get outside more. Ingest more of that ever so necessary vitamin – Vitamin “N”. Reconnect to nature. It will increase your overall well being and you will do your part in assuring its future well being!