The Green Prescription Club: August 2024

This month let curiosity guide you. PLUS an exciting new feature!

Aug 02, 2024

Welcome to The Feel Good Life! A newsletter about health, prevention, empathy, and hope. Join me, Dr. Mariana, as we explore all sides of good health and life. Today we dive into our 3rd edition of The Green Prescription Club. Want to know more? Read here to get started.

Hello!

Welcome once more to The Green Prescription Club. Today we dive into our third edition - with a brand new feature I’m very excited about!

In our first prescription, we took a challenge to spend more time outdoors by simply walking for 30 minutes out in the green every week. It seemed like a small task, but the truth is that in this modern lifestyle, it can be tricky to carve out a few minutes from your busy day to enjoy yourself in this way. (But it’s not just for enjoyment - which is the whole point of these green prescriptions.)

The realisations we had were eye-openers, allowing everyone (myself included) to realise how tricky but valuable it is to prioritise healthy time-off on a regular basis.

Then came our second prescription, which invited us to slow down as we embraced the art of breathing. This proved to be more challenging than expected! Realising how difficult it actually is, with our over-stressed and permanently distracted brains, to sit down and focus on nothing but breathing was another revelation.

And in August, we are letting curiosity guide us…

It’s now time for our next Green Prescription.

Did you know that curiosity is intricately connected to dopamine, the reward hormone in the brain? There is science behind curiosity - and it’s mind-blowing.

Here’s a wonderful way of putting it:

“One way to begin exploring curiosity is to understand ‘information seeking’. This behavior is observable across the entire animal kingdom – from apes and dolphins all the way down to crabs and tiny nematode worms. ‘Information seeking’ means that every animal seeks information about their environment. This is so they know how to navigate it. In fact, it’s why sensory organs exist – to supply the brain with information that helps you understand your environment and make better choices.
But when does information seeking qualify as curiosity? The difference, we now believe, is in the motivation. If you’re seeking knowledge because of an external motivation, like school or work, then it does not qualify as curiosity. But if you’re seeking knowledge because you’re internally motivated – because you just want to know the answer – that’s curiosity.”
~ The Science of Curiosity | Curiosity Compass

It’s proven that stimulating curiosity is good for the process of learning at all stages of life, from school kids absorbing knowledge at an incredible rate, to the elderly battling cognitive capacity loss and knowledge-retention disorders such as dementia. Enhancing curiosity allows the brain to reinforce neural pathways, resulting in a memory boost and a positive emotional response of joy and life satisfaction.

Dr. Judson Brewer explains in this article how curiosity can either ‘motivate us to learn, or send us into rabbit holes and habit loops.’ He sums up beautifully:

‘Of all of our human capacities, curiosity is at the top of my list of most essential. From helping us learn to survive in the world to bringing the joy of discovery and wonder, curiosity really is a superpower.’

Behavioural Scientist Preeti Katomarthi also gives a good explanatory view on how curiosity works and how it has been studied.

She mentions how Daniel Berlyne, in 1954, did an experimental study on human curiosity, and explains one of his hypothesis:

‘If the stimulation is too low, there will be no reason to explore, and if it is too high, it will result in anxiety.’ The right balance of stimulation is needed for exploration. This has been captured as the “zone of curiosity” by H.I. Day, a colleague of Berlyne.’

Zone of Curiosity (derived from Day, 1982, pp. 20)

Based on this all, we now know that curiosity combined with the right amount of motivation will result in a sense of exploration, interest and excitement.

I find this personally inspiring. Growing up in a cow milking farm taught me a lot on being outdoors just for the joy of it. I was only a child, roaming the little creeks and green Costa Rican prairies like Heidi. I didn’t know at the time how important those experiences and memories would be later in life.

Through high school and uni years, I spent almost no time outdoors, exploring or exercising. It just wasn’t a part of my routine. It was only in my late 30’s when I discovered a newfound joy for the outdoors. It all started with a strong desire to go running (more like jogging) on a random summer evening after work. One run turned into another and suddenly, I found myself exploring and breathing sides of my now beloved home Barcelona with whole new eyes. I realised how different the previous years would’ve been if only contact with nature was a part of my regular activities.

In this random path of life, I’ve also met people who has inspired me into the outdoors. One of them is

Mike Sowden

. You might know him from his newsletter Everything Is Amazing.

Mike is an avid curiosity science-based enthusiast who goes the extra mile. In this piece, he invites his readers into becoming explorers of their own neighbourhood, showing them how outdoors exploration, curiosity and mental health are tightly connected:

If you’re incurious, you’re more likely to develop anxiety, crushing loneliness and other truly miserable mental states. There’s even a medical term for chronic incuriosity: anhedonia, the inability to feel interest and pleasure in your surroundings.

Mike is also my partner (disclaimer!), but before he was any of that, I found his love for the outdoors fascinating and weird. I couldn’t fully understand it at the time, but slowly, my brain started shifting and seeing some of what he saw in the outdoors. Moreover, I started feeling it. Spend more time outdoors trying to hone your attention, and everything becomes more interesting to you.

You feel the outdoors, the nature. And then…nature changes you.

This clicked the most for me in those early running days. Going slightly out of my comfort zone on a regular post-work afternoon felt at first like a huge decompression from life. It took some effort, but what I gained from it every time weighed out all laziness and discomfort. After 3 years, I only want more! More outdoors, more discovery, more curiosity. I can’t explain why or how, I can only feel it.

The neuronal connections in the brain are undoubtedly impacted by contact with the outdoors, call it mountain, beach, forest, park or your garden. Something about nature connects with our very own human nature, changing the way in which our brain processes information, including physical, cognitive and emotional. A study made by the Max Planck Institute right after pandemic, makes a clear point on how ‘Spending time outdoors has positive effect on our brains.’

And because of all this, I want to use this month’s Green Prescription to invite you to be curious, to go explore rather than just go for a walk. To keep it simple and enjoy it to the max at the same time.

Because without curiosity and nature, what would life be like?

New Feature!

I’m offering a 1:1 session to everyone who joins the Green Prescription Club this month! I really want you to take advantage of these health prescriptions.

In this 1:1 we will comment on what the Green Prescription can do for you in the upcoming months. We will create a personalised health plan for you, with 3 specific goals that you want to accomplish by the end of the year.

Is there anything you need to improve in your routine but can’t get started? A nagging little habit that you can’t seem to shake off? I want you to feel great, and using the Green Prescriptions is the perfect excuse to create a fun, powerful health plan to get you into action.

This is more than just accountability, it’s team work and action time! And this opportunity is all yours to take. Right now.

So, are you ready?

Brace yourselves! Because this month we are going exploring into the unknown.

During the month of August, you will embark in search for new green areas near your neighbourhood, town or city. The idea is to get yourself outside, but not just your usual outside…

Once a week you will set yourself to explore an area of town you haven’t been to, and find some green within it. Maybe a small park on the other side of town, or a big open area where the road ends. Maybe there’s a museum with a hidden garden you didn’t know about. Or maybe you’re on holidays and you set yourself a challenge to discover green spots nearby over a hike, a bike ride or a kayak session. This month go be creative, curious and free!

Extra Tip: If you find a fresh water source, why not take your shoes and socks off and enjoy dipping your feet for a little while? Make the best out of it and enjoy the weather as you go. (If you’re in summer time hemisphere, even better!)

And as always, I’ll be doing these challenges myself along with you, so expect some doctor’s updates too.

Time to go have fun!

Download your August 2024 Green Prescription right here:

The Green Prescription Club August 2024

260KB ∙ PDF file

Download

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me anytime via email or chat. I’m also creating an August Accountability Thread in the Substack Chat so we can stay in touch and share the motivation as we go. (Thank you

Giada Centofanti

for the inspiration!)

We are doing our group call towards the end of the month as usual: August 30th at 18:00h UK Time. The link to join will be sent in the email reminder.

Last But Not Least: New Feature!

As mentioned above, I want you to really take advantage of what we’re doing here. Meeting on group calls is great for accountability, but these won’t be enough when it comes to changing specific habits.

This is why I’m offering you a bonus 1:1 session!

I want to create a personalised health plan for you. In our 1:1 we will talk in detail and come up with three specific, clear health goals that you want to accomplish by the end of the year. We will use the Green Prescriptions as an ally in this journey. We will deep-dive together into your routines and habits, both physically and mentally, in order to work towards the results you’re looking for. And I’ll be there to accompany you in this journey.

I’m super excited about this!

Whenever you’re ready, just check the calendar, choose your preferred time slot and book your session right away. ;)

Have a wonderful August ahead!

See you soon,
Dr. Mariana