by Asha Lenin
While recent rains may have discouraged some from enjoying the outdoors, as the weather warms up again, it’s the perfect time to get into the habit of walking in your Adelaide Park Lands – whether it’s for five minutes or over an hour.
Here’s five reasons why you should walk in your Adelaide Park Lands today.
Strolling through Rundle Park / Kadlitpina (Park 13).
Relieve stress
Any form of exercise is a great way to release tension. However, walking in your Park Lands can be more effective than a simple walk around your neighbourhood.
This is because being around nature has a calming effect on your psyche and it counteracts the everyday hustle and bustle of our urban lifestyles. Just 20 minutes in nature relieves stress.
See: https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/a-20-minute-nature-break-relieves-stress
Your Park Lands also feature some amazing gardens, such as the Himeji Garden in Peppermint Park / Wita Wirra (Park 18) — perfect for helping you to stay zen.
A Japanese dry garden, also known as a ‘zen garden’, in the Adelaide Himeji Garden, as captured by Chris Colhoun.
2. Alleviate loneliness
One of the most common factors of depression in our community these days is loneliness.
With the internet expanding, to drive more and more of our lives on-line (one of the side effects of the COVID pandemic) it’s become harder to form personal connections.
Walking in your Park Lands is a great way to start socialising again. Your Park Lands host many community groups and events, spanning everything from bird-watching to yoga and weekly parkruns.
If you’re feeling more introverted, but still want to be around other living beings, even a simple walk alone can help as you’ll often run into amazing bird species — and you will almost certainly see owners with their dogs who might allow or encourage you to pat their dog.
Another way to socialise in your Park Lands is by volunteering with us as a Park Ambassador.
Walkers stop to pet a horse in Lefevre Park / Nantu Wama (Park 6).
3. Boost your immune system
Walking in your Park Lands can help boost your immune system as most plants produce chemicals called ‘volatile phytoncides’ as a protective measure against pests.
Inhaling these chemicals can result in “useful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects on the airways” and “may be also beneficial to promote brain functions by decreasing mental fatigue, inducing relaxation, and improving cognitive performance and mood.”
See: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7559006/
This is also why wood-scented essential oils are common in room diffusers and fragrances. But you are lucky enough to have the real thing, right in your Park Lands.
Walking to work or study via Red Gum Park / Karrawirra (Park 12).
4. Improve your gut health
Another wonderful biological result of walking in your Park Lands? An increase in microbial residents in your gut. See: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8641399/
When sitting in urban environments, you’re often stuck recycling through your own microbial cloud. However, the more varied your microbial residents, the better.
So, getting out and going for a walk in a more natural environment helps keep your microbiome varied and healthy.
A festive-looking bug caught on camera by Chris Gascoigne in the Adelaide Botanic Garden (Park 11).
5. Stay connected with the planet
In difficult times, it’s hard to not get caught up in negative news and issues. Walking in your Park Lands is a breath of fresh air (literally!) from the chaotic nature of the urban environment.
Spending any amount of time away from that is proven to have positive effects on your mental health. See https://www.apa.org/monitor/2020/04/nurtured-nature
It keeps you connected to the ecosystem’s health too – reminding you that humans are not earth’s only inhabitants.
Even on a five-minute walk through your Park Lands, you get to see a wonderful variety of biodiversity. It’s a great reminder of why we Explore, Inspire, Protect and Restore.
A brush-tailed possum in your Park Lands, photographed by Harrison Kent.
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Asha Lenin
Writer Asha Lenin grew up between The Gambia, India, and Australia, so she has professional and volunteer experience in the environmental field across three continents.
She has a Bachelor’s degree in conservation ecology and some of her favourite things in the world are plants and senior dogs and cats.
Her hobbies also include hiking and writing (no surprise there!) and playing guitar from time to time.
