This 2021 we celebrate Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK from the 10th of May until Sunday 16th. The central theme for this year’s awareness week is our absolutely favourite: nature. This week’s Mental Health Foundation goal is to bring awareness to the topic following three simple things: experience nature, share nature, and talk about nature. It’s important to remember mental health is not something we should just discuss during a week or a month but on a daily basis. So please whenever you read this post, remember to share it with whoever might need it.
According to the Mental Health Foundation in the UK, connecting with nature has many benefits for your mental health:
“Research shows that people who are more connected with nature are usually happier in life and more likely to report feeling their lives are worthwhile. Nature can generate a multitude of positive emotions, such as calmness, joy, creativity and can facilitate concentration.”
Mental health is a topic we are very passionate about at The City Next Door. Abruzzo, being considered The Greenest Region in Europe, it’s the perfect place to reconnect with nature and give your mental health a little boost, very much needed after such a challenging 2020. We are looking forward to this year for things to get better and travel becoming a possibility again.
Travelling and holidays overall are linked with the idea of breaking our routine, but often they don’t bring us a total sense of calmness. Typically we are just rushing through big cities, polluted streets and over crowded places, but we don’t take the time to slow down, decompress and actually connect with ourselves.
We wrote in the past about different activities available in the region of Abruzzo that would definitely help to support your mental health, reduce stress and nurture your soul. Forest Bathing which comes from the Japanese exercise “Shinrin – Yoku” translates as taking in the forest atmosphere. This simple and powerful practice brings you a huge amount of benefits including boosting your immune system, accelerating recovery of recent illness, improving creativity, among many others.
Exploring natural paradises by horse or trying slow tourism are some other great options that will produce a good impact on your mental health, also promoting travelling in a more intimate and sustainable way, which is another indirect benefit for our health.
Things are looking better for tourism in the next couple of months, but while we wait, please remember to take care of your mental health as much as you can. Check the different resources offered by the Mental Health Foundation, spread the word and remember the best option is always going back to our roots: nature. At the end of the day, we are all organic.
