The Slow Home Podcast With Brooke Mcalary

We’re one week into the Great Outdoors experiment, and it’s off to an enjoyable start. In today’s episode, Brooke and Ben talk about how they’ve spent the last week getting out in nature, what they’ve noticed, as well as diving into some research around the emotional benefits of spending time outside. This week the guys have spent time outdoors both as a family and solo. It’s been active, but also contemplative, as Brooke shares how she spent one session just sitting by the river watching the water flow - a perfect reminder that sometimes being in nature can just be about being rather than doing. Ben noticed a marked difference in himself between the time spent outside in nature versus the the time spent outside in an urban environment. He shared some research he found that looked at a range of studies where this distinction was made between urban and natural outdoor environments, and the different impacts they had on stress, happiness, creativity, generosity, kindness, att