What Happens To You If You Never Go Outside?

You've heard your whole life that going outside is good for you, but is it really? I mean, don't get me wrong; there are some definite healthy effects to going outside. Like when you're exposed to direct sunlight, you get some vitamin D, and if you do exercise outside, you're getting exercise. I guess the air is cleaner and more fresh, so it's better for you. But what if you already get exercise by going to the gym? And what if you take vitamin D supplements so you don't need the vitamin D that you get from direct sunlight? And what if you install a bunch of air purifiers in your room to make the air clean and reduce it of pollutants? At that point, would there be any need to go outside anymore?

So, I did some extensive research on this topic so that you don't have to, and I found out that going outside still is really, really good for you. It has some effects that nothing else can give you, and they're almost entirely psychological benefits. So here are five incredible psychological benefits that going outside gives you. And before we get started, it's important to note that research suggests that these benefits are attained not by going for a walk outside in a rural or urban environment. So taking a stroll downtown won't give you these benefits; they're more specifically related to going outside in natural environments. So in order to achieve any of these benefits, you actually have to go find some plants and animals and stuff.

Okay, the first benefit is that your concentration will improve. A study published in 2008 found that children with ADHD scored higher on a test of concentration after a walk through a park than after a walk through a residential neighborhood or downtown area. Well, the study definitely was only conducted on kids, but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to try it out yourself. This study, at the very least, emphasizes that there's a huge difference between taking a stroll downtown versus actually spending time in real nature. So, if you're not from a town that's completely surrounded by nature already, like I am, what I would suggest doing is opening Google Maps and finding the nearest green area. Take a mental or digital note of where that is; you'll be far more likely to spend some time in nature if you actually know where to find it.

So the second benefit of spending time in nature is that you won't be as stressed. Something about being outdoors changes the physical expression of stress in the body. One study found that students sent into the forest for two nights had lower levels of cortisol, a hormone often used as a marker for stress, than those who spent that time in a city. Stressful states can be relieved by forest therapy, they concluded.

The third benefit of spending time in nature is that you won't be as tired. You know that feeling when the gears of your brain feel like it's operating through just sludge? Your entire perception of reality is just shrouded in this type of brain fog. Researchers call that mental fatigue. One thing that can help kick your brain back into gear is spending time in restorative environments, which research has found generally means outdoors. One study found that people's mental energy bounced back even after looking at a picture of nature, compared to that of a city which had no effect. Studies have also found that exposure to natural beauty elicits feelings of awe, which is one of the surest ways to improve your mental state.

The fourth benefit of spending time in nature is that you won't be as depressed or anxious. Researchers at the University of Essex in England have found that while exercising definitely does increase overall self-esteem and mood, exercising in nature—even for just five minutes—amplifies that effect. So if you're regularly working out and you're still kind of gloomy, bringing your exercises outside into a green area might make all the difference. Another study found that walks in the forest were associated with decreased levels of anxiety and bad moods. Yet another study found that outdoor walks could be useful clinically as a supplement to existing treatments for major depressive disorder.

And finally, the fifth benefit that you get from spending time outdoors is that you may perform better on creative tasks. A study found that people immersed in nature for four days, which is longer than your average walk in the park, boosted their performance on creative problem-solving tests by a whopping 50 percent. Speaking of which, if you're especially interested in this specific benefit, I have a whole video on how to increase your creativity. I'll put the link in the description for that video, and you can check it out.

So that's it! There are a ton more psychological benefits that you can get from going outside. I only cover these five because they seem to be the most consistently unanimous across everywhere I researched. But either way, if you find that there's something missing in your life, perhaps escaping your computer cave and smelling the breeze is exactly what you need to make you feel fulfilled.

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