Comments on: 5 Minutes of Green Per Day Keeps the Blues Away…

By: Rose Parker

Rose Parker — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:11:00 +0000

I think the corporations who pollute and ravage this country should go outside and enjoy nature and it’s beauty. Could they be so callous toward the environment if they did? Rose Parker

By: Regine

Regine — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:02:39 +0000

I have always wondered why sitting in my garden always made me feel so much happier and at peace even when I only stayed 5 or 10 minutes. Even when my husband left me, I used to spend nights on a garden chair in the summer and it was the only place I could find some solace.
Now even just looking at the garden and picking a dead head here, a weed there makes me feel so great. I even have food for the birds and when I sit in the backroom not only I see greenery and flowers , I can now witness the birds feeding and singing….. in all of that in the middle of Croydon! Coming from Paris, my first fantastic memory when I arrived in the UK, is to have a small backgarden which I shared with other tenants where I could hear the birds sing in the morning. It was something I had never heard and it was magical.
I would also agree that being displaced from our natural habitat is not good. My father was a country man and when he married my mother they lived in Paris. His mental and physical health suffered so much as he could not deal with the stress and he ended up having a nervous breakdown. All those years later, I thought that leaving the country had had a major impact on him and this article confirmed my instincts.
I for one now, at 52, yearn to leave the city and go to live on the Isle of Wight where I can have the best of both worlds, the sea and the countryside….. Can't wait. Meanwhile I will carry on using my garden as a way to feel good.

By: Bosuntom

Bosuntom — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:10:12 +0000

your social work, like so many of her ilk, sounds a buffoon who worships only materialism. They're all around us, alas.
It scarcely matters anyway, because less that two centuries of human stupidity and materialistic greed has written human civilization's death knell.

We have utterly ruined our planet and I only hope when mother nature decides on retribution she will only extract it on us humans.
The old chinese curse of 'may you live in interesting times' will very soon come to fruition.

Through the wonders of the natural world (man can hardly qualify) I am just trying to savour what little is left. I hate to think of what's coming down the line for shrill kids in my neighbouring kindergarden.

By: Ms Ann Noni

Ms Ann Noni — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 01:06:20 +0000

Thirty-six years' ago, whilst sitting in my high school classroom, I wrote a poem about how I felt being in a concrete jungle and looking out the window on yet some more walls of dull, lifelessness. At that age I had pin-pointed what my soul-food was. Apart from a couple of years after I was first married (and everything was new and wonderful and nothing else much mattered [my husband was a surfaholic, so I got plenty of exposure over weekends to the sense-tingling, 'can't quite get enough of' salt air, gentle breezes and the warmth, often through a car window as I sat and read while he was catching that 'just one more wave..']), I've always lived in suburban areas abounding in greenery, the blue sky – just had to walk out the front door, or sight it quite often through a home window – and of course, lots of shrubbery, trees and flowers. And, on a summer's night – or into the early hours of the morning – my utmost soul's delight was to be in the pool, in the quiet of the hour, gazing up at the stars. I've lost that now – recently had to down-size to something more affordable. I geared myself to the change, adapted my mindset to a positive one……BUT, feel (and know it) I've made the worst mistake of my life. I have medical problems (serious back issues) so can't get out and about easily or with a bearable degree of pain, so having my choice and dosage of 'medicine' is important to me. And since moving, I've acknowledged what I knew in my heart of hearts – I'm addicted to that 'medicine' and can't go without it – nor do I want to tho', unfortunately there's very little I can do about it now. At my last home, the numerous windows and sliding glass doors afforded me such a soothing, relaxing, peaceful view from practically just about everywhere in my home – for example, a section of the pool and greenery was captured in the floor-to-ceiling kitchen window. Even a portion of sky was framed. Most days I would take my lunch outside to eat and have more of this beautiful scenery. Often there'd be a CD of my choice for right then, playing whilst I ate and savoured my surroundings – AND the music. The simple sandwich even tasted better. Now that I've moved I don't have all that. I do have a small 'patio' with a pergola which blocks out both the sky and the warmth of the winter sun on my back. My healthy 'feeding time' routine has disintegrated and I no longer get the nutritious body or soul food that I need. I won't go into detail about why various other means of getting my delicious daily dose don't work for me but believe me, being without them, makes a world of difference to my mental, emotional and physiological health. I was quite stunned recently when talking with a social worker to hear her say, “Would you rather be financially secure (the move didn't actually do that, it just made me temporarily more 'secure for a relatively short period) or have a pool?” It was not the 'having' of the pool that was the issue; it was the pleasure – the tranquility, serenity – the filled my soul and worked as a far better medicine than a load of pain killers or anti-depressants. It really bothered me that after an hour's conversation, during which I was describing my best ways of staving off the blues, she would come up with a question like that – and this from a social worker!

So, to get back to the question, yes, I DID have that 5/30 min. a day practice (amongst several others, which were the decorations, if you like, to the building and scenery) – and it benefited me greatly. Since that has gone it is as if my whole existence has gone haywire.

By: Patricia

Patricia — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 05:35:56 +0000

Fabulous post. I grew up on an island with mountains that were painted on the sky, they look that awesome, and the ocean just 1-1/2 blocks away. I love Mother Nature! I've since moved from that island, but my home now has lots of trees and birds and gardening opportunities. If I'm not out in the yard, I'm staring at it from my home office window. It's all so calming and energetic. I do my best writing outdoors in the company of trees.

Thanks for such valuable information.

By: Saving Nature

Saving Nature — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 10:13:48 +0000

Or you could do what I did, which is to buy a Toyota Prius Hybrid that gets 50 MPG so it doesn't cost me much to drive out to the country, where the world is beautiful. And the tailpipe doesn't pollute our wonderful planet, as much as a conventional car.

By: question authority

question authority — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 22:38:00 +0000

you could choose that option, not express your opinion; or, you could recognize that, whether or not “information wants to be free” – as one tribe of internet denizens intones – or not, it definitely wants to socialize. an opinion, or idea, correctly understood, is a hypothesis, and hypotheses exist to socialize – be tested – amongst peers (but not amongst choirs). that's the process, the only process, that generates better, stronger opinions, not to mention truths. I hope you choose to continue socializing.

By: Genelle

Genelle — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 20:13:38 +0000

LOL! No, . . I'm not a Luddite or belong to Green Peace or to that violent, usually demented group proporting to be fighting for animal rights. What I am saying is that as a group, humans have become out of balance with nature, and along with that imbalance, are now suffering all sorts of ailments that are unnecessary. As for social websites, I still don't “get it” since email exists and figure those evolved because people are now physically antisocial since they are glued to their technology be it their computer or iPod, etc. I hadn't thought about this being a Blog until you mentioned it. But now that you have, maybe I'll just continue reading the excellent reports I receive from these people instead of expressing an opinion. Thanks for the heads up on that one.

By: Genelle

Genelle — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 19:53:05 +0000

Absolutely! There's a harmony in nature of which we are supposed to be a part. As a child in this Country, I remember my great aunts, uncles and cousins “visiting” by sitting on the porch and talking! That died out along with the relatives and I didn't see it again until I took my small children and moved to a small town in France. There again, people visited. The main connection I can make here is that TV either wasn't owned or was rarely used. We went for walk and talks for entertainment. We had human interaction; our minds worked and our bodies felt like working. Stress was rare and short lived. I used to be able to turn off a Selectric typewriter at 5 p.m. and forget about work until 8 a.m. the next day. Today, you turn off the computer and worry about what's crashing during the night. I personally need a lot more than 5 minutes/day. Maybe 5 minutes works for city dwellers. )

By: Lori

Lori — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 19:44:45 +0000

I have always felt more – clear-headed, connected, grounded – after walking outside. I live near a lake, so I walk there. But I always felt I had to explain why (and of course couldn't) – or defend it – since I live in a city after all. I love that there's science explaining why this works. And that 5 minutes is all it takes! I think growing and tending houseplants helps too. For me, science-lover that I am, having the science behind it just inspires me to make sure I make time for nature. Awesome post. Especially useful in today's stressful times – with the economy and job market challenges. This takes little time and it's free!