Doctor’s orders: get closer to nature

Isn’t it insane how disconnected we’ve become from nature? I laughed until I cried when I heard that doctors in Scotland have been authorized to prescribe nature to their patients.

No, that’s not a typo. The word is nature.

In what is thought to be the first programme of its kind in the UK, doctors in Shetland can now prescribe time outdoors to their patients.

Apparently, spending time outdoors could result in reduced blood pressure and anxiety, and increase happiness for those with diabetes, a mental illness, stress, heart disease and other ailments.

But it’s not just about time outdoors. The doctors’ orders can be quite specific, given there’s a whole brochure of nature prescriptions.

The brochure contains what many would describe as somewhat off-kilter but very charming suggestions. These include: step outside, be still for three minutes and listen; plant some bulbs; play like an eight-year-old, build a den or get together with friends and play the games you used to play outside; touch the sea; follow a bumblebee; and many more.

According to various reports on the subject, there are numerous benefits of spending time in nature. Not only will it reduce blood pressure and anxiety, and increases happiness, but it reduces aggression, improves pain control and the immune system.

Now, I’m no nuclear physicist, but surely we don’t need doctors telling us that normal behaviour is healthy? Isn’t playing outside with your children, or lying on the beach, or pottering around in the garden part of everyday life?

I remember as a child how we would lie on the lawn, staring up at the clouds, imagining them to be dragons or soldiers or puppies or castles. Four odd decades later, there it is on the list of activities to be prescribed by Scottish doctors: appreciate a cloud.

My personal favourite on the list: borrow a dog and play some games. I’m in the fortunate position that I don’t have to borrow a dog. I have one of my own.

But I’m just not sure if I can get away with pitching up late for work because my doctor ordered me to take my dog for a walk.

After all, I never got away with it when my dog ate my homework all those years ago.

Danie Toerien.

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