Member Article

Go wild and have a happy, healthy life

People who do something ‘wild’ every day for a month change their attitude to nature and report improvements in their physical and mental wellbeing, according to new research which places nature connection at the heart of a happy and healthy life.

An impact study, by the University of Derby, of 30 Days Wild, the UK’s first ever month-long nature challenge, run by The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts in June 2015 reveals sustained increases in participants’ happiness, health, connection to nature and positive environmental behaviours, such as feeding the birds or growing flowers for pollinators like bees.

Dr Miles Richardson, Head of Psychology at the University of Derby, conducted the study. He says: “Two months after taking part in 30 Days Wild, the number of people reporting their health as excellent increased by over 30%. And that improvement in health was influenced by the improvements in happiness and connection with nature.

Last June more than 18,500 people from London to the Outer Hebrides, took part in The Wildlife Trusts’ 30 Days Wild challenge, committing around 300,000 Random Acts of Wildness from letting their lawns grow wild, dancing in the rain and making nature cocktails while families created wild works of art, went star-gazing and created homes for wildlife in their gardens. Even people at work found time for wildlife, by taking meetings outside in the sun and transforming work spaces into wildlife habitats.

Three members of Northumberland Wildlife Trust Katherine, Tony and 8 year old Fred Williams from Alnwick didn’t expect that building ‘wild time’ into their routine for the whole of June would make a huge difference to them, but it did.

Taking part in 30 Days Wild not only got them outdoors every day, but made them make time to do something together every day. Some days they only managed a few minutes, but other times they got out in the wild for the whole day with the least they did being lying in bed looking at shapes in the trees to day-long walking through all weathers in the Northumbrian hills.

Katherine, a self-employed fundraising consultant said: “30 Days Wild brought us new experiences and new adventures; one day we took a ‘long cut’ home from school and walked barefoot through the fields and another day, we set off at 8pm for a night hike which lasted until almost midnight.

“We sought out the wildlife that lives around us. We explored the garden, fields, rock pools, sky, trees, meadows, river and more. We walked, hiked, and looked, sketched, cooked, photographed, planted, whittled and tasted in the wild. We found bees, bugs, birds, snails, limpets, wild cattle, flowers, grasses, shadows, herons, bats, owls, otter, avocets, clouds, fledglings and so much more. Frequently we asked ourselves: “Why don’t we do this more often?

Katherine concluded: “Are we looking forward to 30 Days Wild this June? Of course we are! There are things we want to do again and things we didn’t manage to fit in last time. We didn’t find any reptiles last year so we are definitely hoping for some sunny days to go searching for basking lizards and adders.”

30 Days Wild returns in June 2016, and Northumberland Wildlife Trust is now asking everyone do something wild every day from 1 - 30 June. Whether that is taking time out to simply smell a wildflower, listening to birdsong, exploring a local wild place or leaving a part of gardens to grow wild for a month.

It’s all about making nature part of your life for 30 days - and it’s free! Sign up from today at www.wildlifetrusts.org/30DaysWild and better still, share your 30 Days Wild with us on twitter, Instagram and Facebook using #30DaysWild

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sue Bishop .