My Beautiful Sunday - Spending Time in Nature Promotes Good Mental Health

I got out for a morning trail run today and it was definitely a good start to a beautiful Sunday.

I've been trail running and hiking for years and always told my friends that it was my "therapy". Last year a research study was published that supported what I've been telling friends for years. Below is the abstract and link to the study and the USA Today article describing it.

More than 50% of people now live in urban areas. By 2050 this proportion will be 70%. Urbanization is associated with increased levels of mental illness, but it’s not yet clear why. Through a controlled experiment, we investigated whether nature experience would influence rumination (repetitive thought focused on negative aspects of the self), a known risk factor for mental illness. Participants who went on a 90-min walk through a natural environment reported lower levels of rumination and showed reduced neural activity in an area of the brain linked to risk for mental illness compared with those who walked through an urban environment. These results suggest that accessible natural areas may be vital for mental health in our rapidly urbanizing world.

http://www.pnas.org/content/112/28/8567.abstract

http://college.usatoday.com/2015/07/09/study-nature-good-for-mental-health/

Imagine my delight when I found this little trail message sitting on a boulder where everyone that passed was sure to see it. My sincere thanks to whomever took the time to paint this inspirational message and gift it to everyone using the trail.

Here are some other photos I took on my run this morning.

So remember, "Be the reason someone smiles today".

This is my #beautifulsunday contribution to @ace108's photography theme.