London - Losing weight and staying happy could be as easy as a walk in the park.
Time spent enjoying nature helps boost our self-control and optimism by up to a sixth, scientists claim.
Their study found that time spent in urban environments leaves us prone to rash decisions, while exposure to the great outdoors helps us slow down and better consider our future.
The results suggest increased competition for resources in towns and cities forces us to focus on immediate reward, while the abundance found in nature allows us to regain self-control.
Lead researcher Professor Mark Van Vugt from VU University Amsterdam said on a practical level, the findings indicate it would be better to exercise outdoors, as we are more likely to stick to our fitness regime.
The same approach could also be applied to big financial decisions, with a short walk in a park or woods help an individual to focus on the future and whether to invest now or keep on saving.
“Urban landscapes tend to make us very impulsive and more short-term thinkers. Being in towns and cities increase competition - for status, resources, partners - and so we feel the need to make quick decision,” said Professor Van Vugt.
“But being in lush, green nature elicits a feeling of resource abundance. This allows to think more long-term and for higher reward.
“Nature promotes eating a larger piece of cake after exercise, while being in a city, our instinct is for instant opportunism, and we would opt for a smaller slice of cake immediately.”
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found people’s self-discipline increased by 10 to 16 percent after exposure to nature as opposed to urban landscapes.
The report said: “Cues of natural environments- as opposed to man-made urban environments - entice people to prefer greater, delayed rewards over smaller, immediate rewards.
“This is an important result because delay of gratification is an essential ingredient for promoting individual and social change pertaining to, for instance, healthy lifestyles, antisocial behaviour, resource conservation and population growth.”
It also found that the benefits were a result of people caring more about the future, rather than a boost in mood.
Adults in Britain spend an average if three-and-a-half hours of hours in front of the small screen each day - around 15 percent of their life.
The population’s increasingly sedentary lifestyle and vast use of tablet computers, televisions, smartphones, laptops and games consoles, has been linked to obesity problems and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.
A previous study by Utah University found that leaving your laptop at home, switching off the smartphone and taking a walk in nature can help boost brain power by as much as 50 percent.
Researchers found that adults performed much better in a creative test after spending four days in the great outdoors disconnected from modern technology.
It also found that being in a park or woodland can improve your problem-solving skills, thus explaining why a holiday helps recharge the batteries after busy-periods of work. - Daily Mail