How Studying Outside Could Make You a Better Student

 

Picture this...

It’s noon on a beautiful spring day. You want to go out and enjoy the sunshine, but you’ve got an exam the next day and really need to get in some good study time. Panicked, you try to find a seat in student centre that your tuition so generously funds – nothing. The libraries must surely have space, you think to yourself. Much to your dismay, the library is also packed solid. 

In your last desperate attempt to find a place to settle down and get some reading done, you find yourself on a picnic table just outside of a campus building. Unbeknownst to you, you’re actually better-off this way. 

 NATURE AND MENTAL HEALTH      

We have all heard of going outside for some ‘fresh air’ when things inside get intense. ‘Getting the stink blown off you’ to calm one’s mental state is a relatively commonplace practice, but it seems like nobody is really sure why or how this came to be. It is clear that over time and especially during a pandemic, we are spending less and less time outdoors, but could this actually have negative consequences on our mental health? 

 

ECOTHERAPY is a buzz word in psychology that aims to highlight the importance of the outdoors and natural surroundings on human mental health. This idea stems from a belief that things like fresh air and proximity to greenspace can increase overall mood and general wellbeing, in contrast to the recent societal shift to the digital world. The COVID-19 pandemic has only enhanced this shift inside, encouraging people to stay indoors.

 THE STUDENT PROBLEM       

It comes as no surprise that students are a particular area of worry when it comes to mental health, and our dependence on technology certainly doesn't help. 

This is for a few reasons:

• People tend to go to university or college during young adulthood, an important transitional period that marks an increase in life stressors

• Many mental illnesses have their onset during this period

• A significant proportion of students (63%) report having feelings of “overwhelming anxiety” over the course of the school year

• Many students do not have access to (or time for) therapy and other mental health interventions

• Stress (from school or otherwise) negatively contributes to mood, student satisfaction, and academic performance 

 CAMPUS GREENSPACE: A SOLUTION?   

Over the past decade, research has made one thing clear: utilizing outdoor spaces has some significant effects on mood. More specifically, exposure to nature – even to things as small as photos – can reduce stress. This reduction of stress is also accompanied by:

• 
  Reduced blood pressure 
• 
  Reduced heart rate 
• 
  Increased brain activity 
• 
  Increased immune cell activity 
• 
  General “restorative” effects on the mind 

The best part is that using outdoor spaces has been shown to subconsciously reduce stress – this means that it plays in the background of your brain without a conscious effort! 

Student Studies 

Recent research has extended this idea specifically to students, in an attempt to address the group’s unmet needs. In an experiment with over 200 undergraduate students, students were selected to either study inside, in a windowless laboratory, or outside on campus green space. Of note, they found the following:

• Students who studied outside had less "mood disturbance" (feelings of tension, depression, anger, vigor, fatigue, and confusion) than students who studied inside 

• Students who infrequently went outside in their normal lives had the strongest decrease in mood disturbance when studying outside

• Students who frequently went outside in their normal lives were less bothered by the indoor spaces, suggesting some kind of resiliency build up from being outside

 TAKEAWAYS         

So, why bother studying outside? To put it simply, it might make you a better student.

With students reporting less stressors when studying outside, and stress being related to lower academic achievement, it’s in a student’s best interest to make use of campus green space. Even further, in terms of mental health, the subconscious aspect is key. Students already have busy schedules, so being able to passively improve mental health is arguably revolutionary. 

Now this is not to say that simply going outside will fix mental illness. However, ecotherapy can certainly be used to make the stressors of life more manageable, not just for people struggling with mental illness, but for everyone. 

References

Dorothy C. Ibes & Catherine A. Forestell (2020) The role of campus greenspace and meditation on 
    college students’ mood disturbance, Journal of American College Health, 
    https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2020.1726926
Summers, J. K., & Vivian, D. N. (2018). Ecotherapy - A Forgotten Ecosystem Service: A Review. 
    Frontiers in psychology, 9, 1389. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01389